Beetroot Swirl Bread

You all might be familiar with my obsession for bread baking. I get deeply affected with the outcome of my bread each time. When it rises well and gives a soft and porous texture, my spirits soar really high and a small issue with my bread really makes me feel miserable. We have been planning to make a tricolour bread since long and had some spinach and beetroot ready with me. But then somehow the plan changed

and we had to use up the spinach for making dal palak for lunch. We had almost given up my idea of a swirl bread, when suddenly we decided to bake one with whole wheat flour and beetroot puree.

If you see the blog, you can find a beetroot whole wheat log bread which was made using grated beetroot. Just to make things a bit different, I decided to use fresh beetroot puree to knead the dough. Though I am not 100% happy with the final colour of the bread, I must accept that it looks quite pretty. The texture of the bread has come out really well and the swirls look beautiful. The colour however could have been a brighter pink. Next time, I shall surely try to use cooked beetroot puree and see the difference. You can check my red bell pepper bread and marble bread. The best part of baking breads at home is that you can customize it as per your liking. And btw, did I tell you guys that this bread is fully vegan. There is no milk or butter or eggs in the recipe.

As I always say, add liquid slowly while kneading the flour. Each flour absorbs water differently, so do not add entire water in the beginning. And now many of you would want to know where did I buy this cylindrical loaf tin. Yes, I have bought it from Amazon.in I have mentioned the link in the vegan bell pepper swirl bread. It’s not at all mandatory to bake this in a cylindrical loaf tin, you can use any normal rectangular tin.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour 320 gm
• Salt to taste
• Instant yeast 3/4-1 tsp
• Sugar 1 tsp
• Beetroot 1 (~150-160 gm)
• Olive oil 1-2 tbsp
• Lukewarm water as required

Method:

• Measure the flour and add salt, sugar and required amount of yeast and mix well.
• Transfer half of the flour into another bowl.
• Peel and wash the beetroot and chop it roughly.
• Pulse it in a mixer till you get a fine puree.

• Add the beetroot puree into one part of the flour mixture and start kneading. Sprinkle water if the dough appears too dry.

• Add olive oil and knead for at least ten minutes or till the dough looks soft, bouncy and elastic.
• Place the dough in an oiled bowl and allow the dough to double in size.

• Take the remaining flour mixture and knead it using lukewarm water into a soft dough.
• Place the dough in a well oiled bowl and allow it to double in volume.

• Grease your bread tin with oil or butter and keep it ready. I have used my 8 inch long and 4 inch diameter cylindrical loaf tin. You can use a 8 by 3.5 or 8 by 4 inch rectangular tin.
• Once the dough is doubled, take it out and punch it gently.

• Knead again for a minute or so.
• Roll the plain dough and the beetroot puree dough into equal rectangles of around 10 by 12 inches in dimension.

• Apply some water over the plain dough and place the beetroot dough on top of it.
• Roll it tightly into a log of length equal to your tin size.

• Place the shaped loaf into the prepared tin and allow it to proof till it reaches the brim of the tin or till it doubles.

• Meanwhile preheat the oven at around 180-200 degree Celsius for at least ten minutes.
• Bake the bread for 40-45 minutes or till it sounds hollow when tapped or the internal temperature of the bread is around 95-100 degree Celsius.
• Take the bread out and apply some butter or olive oil on top.

• Demould and cool the bread on a wire rack.
• Slice when the bread is cooled for at least 2-3 hours or overnight.