of Food and Friends: Peppered Parmesan Veggie Bread

The National Festival of Breads was a month ago, and I'm still enjoying trying the recipes and enjoying the memories of friends and connections that were there. Patrice Hurd, a finalist in the FOB, is one new friend. I was fortunate to be assigned to be Patrice's assistant during the contest. That meant I could be her 'go-fer', I could do almost everything but touch the ingredients. And I didn't have to wash the dishes - they were sent away in a plastic tub to the hotel kitchen to be returned clean (although still wet).
Patrice enjoys baking as a winter activity, and in northern Minnesota, there is a lot of winter. She has baked for her family most of her life and passed the skills and traditions on to her daughters and now grand-daughters. That's my hope too; Daughter loves to cook and bake, and in the future I hope to be teaching Granddaughter some kitchen love. One of the things I noticed with many of the FOB finalist recipes is the addition of special and sometimes unusual ingredients to add a special taste to the recipe. This Veggie Bread has carrots, spinach, and steel cut oats; all which add nutritional value and taste.
With each recipe, I learn new things. Working with Patrice I appreciated her organized methods of making three preparations of her recipe as she dove-tailed the steps and times. She has written this recipe in a clear and orderly manner, notice that you are directed to use the food processor with the drier ingredients first, so it is easier to clean. I also learned to use a 'lame', which is a double-sided very sharp blade used to slash the tops of bread loaves. The importance of weighing ingredients and checking the temperature of the loaf to determine doneness were also techniques most of the contestants used.

Peppered Parmesan Veggie Bread

The loaves shine as Patrice brushes
them with melted butter.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons dried minced onion

½ teaspoon ready-to-use minced garlic

3 tablespoons light olive oil

2-ounce wedge Parmesan or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, cut into a few pieces

2 to 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 ½ cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, divided

2 to 2 ½ cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour, divided

2 (¼-oz) packages Red Star Platinum Yeast

¼ cup dry steel cut oats

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons coarsely cracked multi-colored peppercorns

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

¼ cup dry buttermilk powder

1 ¼ cups water

1 large egg

1 cup firmly packed fresh baby spinach leaves, stems removed and coarsely chopped

½ tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Combine onion, garlic, and olive oil in a small bowl; set aside.

2. Pulse cheese in food processor until finely chopped (will be about ½ cup) and remove. Finely chop enough carrots in food processor to measure 1 cup and reserve.

3. In a stand mixer bowl fitted with paddle, mix together 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour, 1 cup bread flour, yeast, oats, salt, pepper, sugar, and buttermilk powder.

4. Heat water to 120° to 130° F and pour over the dry ingredients; blend on low speed for 2 minutes. Mix in egg, spinach, olive oil mixture, cheese, and carrots. Beat on medium speed 3 minutes.

5. Stir in remaining white whole wheat flour (1 cup) and enough bread flour (1 – 1 ½ cup) to form a soft dough. Remove paddle, cover dough with plastic wrap, and let it rest for 15 minutes. Knead dough with hook until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (I have trouble kneading with the electric mixer, my dough seems to be too sticky, so I started the process in the mixer, then transferred to a floured surface to complete the kneading.) Transfer dough to a greased bowl; cover, and allow the dough to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

6. Lightly grease two 9”x5” loaf pans. Deflate the dough and divide into half. Shape into loaves by rolling each piece of dough into a 14”x7” rectangle. Starting with shorter side, rollup tightly, pressing dough into roll. Pinch edges and ends to seal. Place in pans, seam-side down; cover with plastic wrap, and let rise 45 to 60 minutes. A finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that rebounds slowly. Near the end of the rise, preheat oven to 375° F.

7. Using a sharp knife or lame, cut three diagonal slashes, ¼” deep, in each loaf. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted near the center of the loaf registers about 200°F. Remove loaves from oven. Brush with melted butter and after 5 minutes turn out onto a rack to cool.