Thursday, October 30, 2008

Bread Baking Day 14: Colored Breads



There are moments in life when Inspiration truly and suddenly smacks you in the face. I had a moment like that the other evening. I had just discovered the challenge theme for Bread Baking Day #14 and within seconds I knew what I was going to make. In all fairness, I came up with my idea before Zorra (1x umrühren bitte aka kochtopf) had posted the results of World Bread Day, and while there are some related breads, they weren’t mine. The theme? Colored breads. How cool is that?


I decided to play around with my recipe for Rosemary Raisin Sourdough bread, turning it into Pink Cranberry Sourdough Bread, and because I wanted to see how the bread turned out, I baked it early. Entries aren’t due until December 1, but I’m ready now, and November is shaping up to be a busy month, so for once, I’m slightly ahead of the game.



I made boulettes – four small boules, and I substituted dried cranberries for the raisins and beet juice for the water.


Risen and ready for the oven:



Cooling:



While the inside isn’t overly pink, it is moist and has a sweet, fruity flavor. The only evidence of beets is the color.





This challenge provides lots of creative opportunities, and even though I’m early, I may play around again if I have the time. Final results will be posted in early December on Boaz’s site, Grain Power. Colored breads – a terrific choice!



Now I just have to figure out what to do with the cooked beets.


Pink Cranberry Sourdough Bread

14 ounces bread flour

4 ounces whole grain flour

1 teaspoon dry yeast (instant or active dry)

½ ounce Kosher salt

1 ounce honey

2 ounces olive oil

2 ounces dried cranberries

1/16 cup chopped fresh rosemary

8 ounces beet juice

8 ounces sourdough starter


Instructions can be found here.




9 comments:

Engineer Baker said...

Too cool - I've been scheming up what mine is going to be colored with, but haven't thought of anything really exciting yet. I love the color of your unbaked loaves though.

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Slightly ahead of the game! ;0) girl you're over a month early!
Beet juice is such a cool idea excellent! I think I might even have tried putting some of the beets grated into the bread and with the cranberries. This looks excellent!

Anonymous said...

Cutest pink boulettes I've ever seen! Great festive bread for the holidays.

Anonymous said...

How interesting. I've never thought to do that with any dough!

TeaLady said...

PINK BREAD. How cool is that!!! The only colored bread I ever made was green because of all the oregano in it. But Pink. Who wudda thot!! Great Bread.

Anonymous said...

First, I'm totally envious that you're ahead of the game! Second, that dough looks so pretty and the bread sounds delicious. I like how you used the beet juice to color it.

NKP said...

Yay, pink bread!
Way to start the ball rolling.
I love it.

javapot said...

Cool pink, I like pink, I'm sure the bread taste great too!

Anonymous said...

Love that intense color. Must have been delicious!