Sunday is Bread Baking Day

With leftover sun-dried tomatoes, I was at a loss how I was going to use them when I stumbled upon a recipe for a Sun-Dried Tomato and Rosemary Baguette. I had promised a certain someone living in France that I would learn how to make his favorite bread, which apparently is something like a baguette folded in half. So I figured baguettes would be a good place to start.

This recipe is wonderful. The crust comes out nice and crunchy and the inside crumb was wonderfully chewy, just like a baguette should be. The bread is slightly sweet from the sun-dried tomato and then has a little rosemary and garlic kick at the end.

This bread grades a B+ for nutritional value, with one eighth of this loaf clocking in at a mere 88 calories, .08g total fat, 0 cholesterol 199mg sodium, 9g dietary fiber, .9g sugars, 2.6g protein, 3% vitamin A, 8% vitamin C, 1% calcium, and 7% iron.

Take 2/3 cups of tomato juice and heat to just above room temperature. I actually pureed some no salt added canned diced tomatoes I had on hand, and then added a little water to make it come out to 2/3 cups. Add 1 tsp active dry yeast and let stand for 5 minutes until the yeast begins to bubble. Stir in ¾ tsp salt, 1 tsp crumbled dried rosemary (I used this wonderful rosemary harvested by my cousin who is part of a coop in Portland, Oregon… fresh herbs from the farm were my Christmas present this year as well as moral mushrooms), 1 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp EVOO, 1 cup whole wheat flour, and 1 tsp wheat gluten. Beat until smooth. Then slowly add up to one cup of unbleached bread flour. For some reason, maybe because of the weather or the fact that I used pureed canned tomato, I only needed about 1/3 cup of the bread flour before the dough was the right consistency. Let stand 15 minutes covered. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead adding ½ c. chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

Cover and let rise until doubled. Mine only took 45 minutes to double. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone on the top rack and a metal pan on the lower rack. I turn out my dough onto parchment paper that has a little cornmeal on it so I can just throw the whole thing on my stone. Punch the dough down until it’s a little flat and oval shape. Then fold it the long ways and pinch the seam. Repeat again, and pinch the seam. Then roll it out a little so it’s the proper baguette shape. Slash a line down the loaf lengthwise about half an inch deep. Spray the top of the loaf with a water bottle. Put the baguette and parchment paper onto the baking stone and then throw a cup of water into the lower pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

I sliced the bread while still warm and it was wonderful with part-skim mozzarella on top, a little flat-leaf Italian parsley, and a sliver of Vidalia onion.

My next bread, Rustic “Pumpkin” Date Bread was not quite as successful, but has potential. This came out with a beautiful crust and a slightly sweet flavor with the perfect balance of spices and “pumpkin,” but the inside crumb was a little too dense. I think the loaf did not rise properly because of using the fresh squash flesh or I crammed too many dates, nuts, and flaxseed in there – I think it would be better to use half the amount of squash and mix it with water since the consistency of canned pumpkin is so much more watery than fresh cooked squash.

However, this does pack some nutritional punch, and is rated grade A for nutrition, which is fantastic considering that this really satisfies my sweet tooth. This bread makes 16 slices, with each coming in at 129 calories (which is okay, since this bread is dense and filling), 2g fat, 0 cholesterol, 75mg sodium, 2.8g dietary fiber, 5.1g sugars, 6.4g protein, 48% vitamin A, 1% vitamin C, 2% calcium, and 8% iron.


I microwaved half an acorn squash leftover from another meal, and mashed the flesh instead of using canned pumpkin (I searched Whole Foods high and low, no canned pumpkin or fresh… apparently it is only a fall thing and only really, an October thing). Then I added ½ cup of water, 1 TBS blackstrap molasses, 2 TBS unsweetened natural applesauce and 1 ½ tsp dry active yeast. 5 minutes, yada yada, bubbles, and all that. While it was proofing, I mixed 1 c. whole wheat flour, ½ c. spelt flour, ½ c. barley flour, 1 c. unbleached bread flour, 1 TBS gluten, 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg (my impulse purchase today was one of those handheld graters for things like parmesan and nutmeg… I was tired of getting my fingers mashed in the general grater I have), ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp ground clove, and 2 TBS ground flaxseed. Slowly add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and beat with a big spoon until smooth. Let rest 15 minutes covered. Add in ½ c. chopped dates and ¼ c. chopped pecans and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is springy and the nuts and dates are integrated. Let rise until doubled. Punch down. Repeat. Use the same baking method as the baguette, except that I baked it at 400 degrees. This time, bake for 30-35 minutes.

Despite the dense crumb in this bread, if you slice it thin and slather it with some natural peanut butter and Adriatic fig spread, it is still a little bit of heaven.