Beet Bread

A delicious (and fun-colored!) free-form loaf of bread made with raw beets.

I had a real surprise the first time I made this beetroot bread. I grated raw beetroot into the flour, added yeast, salt, and water as usual and started kneading. The dough turned a pronounced deep pink color, and I thought that it would probably change on baking to an uninspiring brown. How wrong was I! I was delighted to see when I cut the loaf for the first time that the grated beets had resulted in an amazing striped color scheme.

It works best when made with 100% white flour – this really emphasizes the contrast in colors between the pieces of beetroot and dough. The dough does turn a rather remarkable pink before being baked. Don’t stress, though; the final result will be a spotty masterpiece.

Prep time - 2 hrs 55 mins

Total time - 2 hrs 55 mins

Servings - 1

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup warm water

• 1 1/2 cups raw beet puree (about 2 1/2 peeled medium beets)

• 3 1/2 all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, combine yeast, sugar and water. Let rest 5 minutes.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fixed with the paddle attachment, combine flour and salt. Add in yeast mixture, beet puree and olive oil. Mix until just combined.

3. Knead, by hand or in a stand mixer fixed with the dough hook, about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

4. Remove risen dough from bowl and shape into a round ball. Place dough on a baking stone or parchment paper-lined baking sheet and cover loosely with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

5. Preheat oven to 375°F and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

6. Allow bread to cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing or serving.