Tomato Spinach Bread

       Happy belated Thanksgiving! I hope you passed a wonderful, memorable, and filling day. I wanted to make this Thanksgiving special for myself by making something I have never attempted before. So as I was flipping through this year's issue of Taste of Home's "Best Holiday Recipes" and came across this bread, I decided that it would be my something special. I have made yeasty breads before, but  never a flavored one, besides cinnamon sugar. Plus, I had never attempted to make a swirly sort of loaf. Well, as you can see my "swirl" didn't quite make the cut (I didn't seal the edges well enough) but I think it still looks pretty. And it was delicious, which made any technical flaw irrelevant as far as I am concerned. Each of the sections of dough was remarkable individually, but when all three were combined in a single bite the flavor was marvelous. During dinner, we ate this bread alongside all of our other dishes, but this would make awesome sandwich bread slices as well. Or you could do what my aunt did with all of the leftovers--turn it into garlic bread the next day to serve with spaghetti! Awesome.

Tomato Spinach Bread

Recipe from Taste of Home

Makes two loaves

Ingredients

plain dough

•  1- 1/4 ounce package active dry yeast
•  1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
•  4 teaspoons of butter, melted
•  1 teaspoon salt
• 2 3/4 to 3 cups bread flour

spinach dough

•  1/4 cup cold water
•  1- 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (fresh would be better but I don't know how much you would need for this particular recipe)
•  1- 1/4 ounce package active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
• 4 teaspoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups bread flour

tomato dough

• 1- 1/4 ounce package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
• 4 teaspoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1- 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 3 1/4 to 3 3/4 cups bread flour

egg wash to brush on top of loaves before baking

• 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon cold water

Directions

Step 1

plain dough

--In a large bowl, pour in warm water. Sprinkle package of active dry yeast over water and let sit a couple minutes to activate.

--After the yeast looks a little foamy, combine butter, salt, and 2 cups of flour into the yeasty water. Combine until smooth.

--With the remaining flour, add a little bit at a time until the dough becomes firm and not extremely sticky.

--On a lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, then place in a greased bowl (I used olive oil to enhance flavor), cover, and refrigerate overnight.


spinach dough

--In a food processor, puree the cold water and spinach. (I don't have a food processor, so that is why you can still see chunks in my bread. I think it still looks cool, though.)

--In a large bowl, pour in warm water. Sprinkle package of active dry yeast over water and let sit a couple minutes to activate.

--After the yeast looks a little foamy, combine butter, salt, 2 cups of flour, and pureed spinach into the yeasty water. Combine until smooth.

--With the remaining flour, add a little bit at a time until the dough becomes firm and not extremely sticky.

--On a lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, then place in a greased bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.


tomato dough

--In a large bowl, pour in warm water. Sprinkle package of active dry yeast over water and let sit a couple minutes to activate.

--After the yeast looks a little foamy, combine butter, salt, 2 cups of flour, and tomato paste into the yeasty water. Combine until smooth.

--With the remaining flour, add a little bit at a time until the dough becomes firm and not extremely sticky.

--On a lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, then place in a greased bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Step 2

--The next morning (or approximately 8 hours later), punch down each dough, then divide each dough into two parts.

--For each dough on a lightly floured surface, roll into a 10-inch by 8-inch rectangle.

--Stack 3 rectangles of dough (of each flavor) on top of each other, the plain dough being between the two flavored doughs. I absentmindedly did plain, spinach, then tomato, but nobody seemed to care. ;) You should end up with two different stacks.

--Roll each three-tiered stack into 12-inch by 10-inch rectangles.

--Then, roll up each rectangle "jelly-roll" style starting with the long side.

--Tuck the edges under the loaf and pinch all of the seams tightly.

--On a baking sheet (greased or covered with parchment paper), Place the uncooked loaves seem-side down. I ended up using two baking sheets because I wanted to bake my loaves separately just in case my oven decided to act up again.

--Cover the loaves and let rise for 30 minutes, preferably in a warm location.

--Preheat your oven  to 350 degrees.

--Once the loaves have risen, beat together the egg white and cold water to make a quick egg wash, then brush the wash over each of the loaves.

--Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until golden brown.

--Remove to wire racks.

--Eat warm or cooled, whichever you prefer. Enjoy!

Happy Baking!

--H