Tomato Bread

 

My bag of CSN goodies arrived!  I got it from Champa, who played my Santa in the month of July. This was part of this giveaway she did here. Thanks so much Champa!! I am gonna have a blast with all my new toys!!

I am steadily falling in love with yeast.  And tasting success with bread- literally, has made me more of a compulsive and obsessed baker, now more than ever...the biggest bonus being baking without much guilt. Have started loving the heady aroma of bread baking in the oven, love it even more when people say my home smells like a bakery...do a little jig when my daughter says, she wants the bread I baked and not the one from the packet!!! Yaaayy!!! Breads - You are going to be on my table more often:))

 My family would dread the thought of me baking bread on a week end as our outings were determined by yeast . Yes!! The yeast not proofing well enough, the dough taking hours to rise (and twice at that!!) and me refusing to go out till the fate of the bread was decided, has driven my poor hubby and kids nuts:) The initial days of yeast-will-proof-will-not-proof are thankfully over with me discovering this brand of instant yeast called Gloripan. Touchwood!! If you are in Bangalore and struggling with different brands of yeast, do give this brand a try, in all probabilities you will be glad you did!

 

My goodie bag had arrived in Bangalore and it had to be picked up by my Man Friday. I badly wanted to bake a bread and in the new tin. So in the hope that  I would surely get the tin in a couple of hours, I started baking bread in my mind. But Man Friday had to be sent on a more urgent errand. 

My big handicap is, I don't drive or rather I am not proud of my driving skills. I will be happy to take care of two bickering kids in the back seat rather than drive. You can figure out, am not someone who loves to drive. But I just could not wait till the next day to bake. So I decided to bake in my old tin and set about the process... and surprise!! The goodie bag arrived just in time when my dough was ready to go into the oven!! At the same instant beeped the school bus with my daughter in it!!! Help!! Requested Man Friday to keep the kiddo busy for 10 minutes so that the tin could go into the oven ASAP. Rummaged through the bag, found the tin, washed it, dried it and whew!! In went my Tomato Bread!!

This recipe is from All Recipes, with minor changes made.

2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast (I have used instant yeast, Gloripan)

2 tablespoons warm water (105 degrees to 115 degrees)

1 cup warm tomato juice (110 to 115 degrees F)  I used 1/3 cup tomato puree plus warm water to make one cup juice. Refer Note

 2 tablespoons tomato sauce ( You could use pizza ketchup instead)

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese( I did not use any)

1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted

1/2 teaspoon salt ( Remember sauce has salt!!)

3 - 3 1/3 Cup All Purpose Flour (Maida)

1 teaspoon mixed Italian herbs( I used 3 sachets of pizza seasoning)

1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder.( My addition, you could use chilli flakes)

Mix together 3 cups of flour, salt and the seasoning in a bowl. Take the sugar and yeast in another large mixing bowl. Add the warm water to it. Add the diluted tomato puree, sauce and butter to it. ( Instant yeast doesn't need to be proofed). Add in the flour mixture and bring the dough together. Oil your hands well and knead the dough on a greased working area. Add the remaining flour ( from the 1/3 cup)one tablespoon at a time if needed. Knead for about 6-8 minutes or till the dough is smooth and elastic. Do not over knead or the bread will become dense. The dough can be quite sticky, so better use a dough scraper.

Coat the dough with oil. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel and keep it in a warm place to rise. This may take about 45 minutes to an hour. Once doubled, knock down the dough gently to deflate. Shape the dough into a loaf and place it in a greased 9*5 loaf tin.  Keep in a warm place till it doubled again.  Towards the end of the final rise, pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F). Just before placing the loaf in the oven, brush with some room temperature milk. Bake for 20 minutes. Slide an aluminum foil over the loaf if you find it browning too much. Lower the temperature to 160 degrees C (325 degrees F) and bake for 10-15 minutes more or till the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. 

Take a look at my new shining 9*5 tin.. ahem.. non-stick at that!!! Another infamous sloppily shaped loaf of mine here.. hey, lets focus on the tin now, OK;-)??

 Remove the loaf from the oven, brush with some butter and allow the bread to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack till the bread comes to room temperature. Slice only after it comes to room temperature. 

And now its OK for you to shift the focus back to the bread...

The texture of the bread was good, the flavor a good change form the regular bread flavors. The bread was a wee bit tart, may be because I underestimated the sourness of the puree. It would probably have tasted a lot better if it were not tart. 

Note: Try using 1/4 cup of puree plus 3/4 cup water to make the tomato juice. Do taste the diluted juice and adjust seasoning if needed depending on the tartness of the juice. And do remember, the tomato sauce also adds to the tartness.

For Bangalore Bakers: Gloripan yeast is available at IBCA, Durga Agencies and also at General Food Additives as I have seen.  These come in 500 grams packs(when  will we ever use so much??!!). I have found 100 gram packs at General Food Additives, Seshadripuram, which I feel is a good amount for us home bakers. And don't be fooled by the size of the packet, it contains quite a lot! If you want more yeast, buy 2 -3 packs of 100 grams, instead of a 500 gram pack.

Just in time to send my last entry to Meeta's Monthly Mingle hosted by  Deeba this month.  Tomato, technically is a fruit says Deeba. So here it comes..


This also goes to Champa's Bake-Off.
This bread is also being Yeast Spotted