Friday, March 6, 2009

PSYCHEDELIC DILL, BEET BREAD

If I told you that this bread was sour like a sour dough loaf with a touch of sweet, ever so slight, would you eat it? If I told you that the inside was tender and the crust, crisp, would you eat it?

Now, if I told you that I used beets to make red bread and pickle juice to add a taste of dill to the bread and it lent such an amazing sourness to the bread, would you still want to take a bite?

Crazy ingredients as they seem, they worked together quite nicely. I couldn't have hoped for a better result.

My daughter devoured a slice without even asking why it was red. All she knew was that it was fresh out of the oven and a buttered slice was probably going to taste good. Yeah, she liked it. Then my husband said why is it red? I paused and said red food dye. Liar! I paused again, looked at her and then my husband and said beets... and the white, pickle juice. Gasp. She wanted to protest. She startedto, but the allure of fresh buttered bread won out despite the ingredients. VICTORY!
It's pretty psychedelic isn't it? Some time ago I was perusing Susan of Wild Yeast's, Yeast spotting and wow did I see a very cool loaf of bread. Click here to check it out at My Food Blog. So I tweaked it to make my own version which went something like this.

And speaking of Susan, I will be submitting this to YeastSpotting!

PSYCHEDELIC DILL, BEET BREAD

for the red:
1 1/4 cups tempid beet puree
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil (or canola)

for the white:
1 cup tempid pickle juice
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon yeast
no salt, there is enough in the pickle juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

Directions for each but done seperately. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl or a mixer. Add wet ingredients, juice and oil, to the dry. Combine until the dough is pulling away from the mixer bowl. You want a smooth non sticky dough. If you are hand kneading, do so for about five minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and let rise until doubled in bulk.

Once both doughs are done and had their first rise then you can begin to shape. Lay half of the white dough down and press into a circle. Place red dough on top and press into a circles as well. Shape the other half of the white dough into a circle and place it on top. Roll and twist into a ball, pinching the ends to seal. Place round on baking sheet and cover, let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes. Bread is ready when the internal temperature has reach 200F.

14 comments:

kat said...

Wow, that is some crazy bread but if it works....

vibi said...

Wow! What a pretty bread... so colorful and happy!

(Sigh) ...if I only knew how to make bread!!! I would...
Are you available for classes? LOL

KariH said...

Brilliant!

Olivia said...

Hippie bread! Love it. I feel the need to put on some Beatles and wear a headband

Lori said...

Kat- dude- psychedelic- not crazy, he he.

Vibi- Are you kidding me? With the amazing things you create, I just know you can make amazing bread!

KariH- thank you so much.

Olivia- LOL! Like so cool!

The Food Librarian said...

This is so great!! It's amazing.

Sara said...

What a cool looking bread! Beets are such a pretty color, I just bought some red and yellow ones.

Arundathi said...

Lori - thank you for the lovely comment. Your bread looks great and I'm so glad you enjoyed it. The colors are beautiful. Who would've thought dill juice would go well with beets?!

test it comm said...

What amazing marbling and colour!

grace said...

lori, this is downright awesome. i just learned what red food coloring is made from, so i'll be using something else in the future. :)

Lori said...

For those of you that are intrigued by Grace's comment, I know I was, you can see where red dye comes from. go to this link:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Was_red_food_coloring_made_from_beetles'_wings

Susan said...

Wow, it's like lava lamp bread! I love the colors.

Siri said...

All I can say is- Funky. Dills and beets go hand-in-hand, so I'm sure this is great!

-Siri

Mary Bergfeld said...

Your are amazingly clever. The color in your bread is wonderful and using pickle juice for flavor is something I never would have thought of.