Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Kalamata Olive and Sundried Tomato Bread

Have you read Emma's excellent blog, Vegan Food for the Hungry Student, yet?  If not, you totally should - Emma is a kickass Brisbanite who makes her own bread, grows food and has cool cats.  And she regularly posts recipes for seriously cheap meals.

Last week was a bit rainy, and I read Emma's blog post about Kalamata Olive and Herb Bread.  I thought it sounded pretty wonderful.  I ended up 'working from home' on Wednesday (that is, doing some reading, but also watching Glee.  What? I'm only parttime, anyways!) and as it was grey and cold and pouring rain when I woke up, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to bake this bread.  Only, I hadn't written down the recipe, and didn't want to turn on the computer.  So I actually used the recipe for Olive and Sundried Tomato Bread from Vegan Planet.  Except I didn't even follow that exactly - I increased the wholemeal flour, added some gluten for that great, chewy-bread texture, and added herbs, a la Emma's bread.  And I put it all in the breadmaker to mix up.  Now, that may have been a mistake - there was clearly too much bread, and it had some troubles mixing.  It needed lots of help, and a bit of extra water.  But, it did get all of the flour incorporated, which is something I struggle to do when I mix by hand.  So even though I had to take the bread out and knead it by hand, I don't necessarily regret my breadmaker decision.

Anyways, after a few hours of rising, and then some baking, I was rewarded with two beautiful loaves of yummy bread.  It was very soft, thanks to the extra water, and chewy.  And so yummy!

And, two loaves meant that we could slice one and put it in the freezer, so even though we ate a whole loaf in one day (uh, yeah, we're greedy gutses), it is still the bread that keeps on giving.  Goes great with  bubble & squeak, and "Scrambled Eggless Eggs" (from How it all Vegan, and a great name for a recipe!).

5 comments:

Hannah said...

Oh Theresa, I'm scared of working with yeast and I'm not a huge bread eater, but I do love olive bread, wholemeal's nuttiness, and sundried tomatoes! I'm so tempted to try this...

P.S. Glee is awesome.

Emma said...

Hehe thanks for the plug! I'm very flattered!

Your bread looks awesome. I have yet to brave not putting it in a loaf tin yet. Next time! I definately have to try this sundried tomato idea. I also once bought some caremelised onion bread once and homg that was amazing...I don't have enough time to make all this bread!

I don't have a bread maker, but I tried mixing dough last time I made bread using the dough hooks on my electric beater which worked for a minute but then it got hard. So wooden spoon and a bowl it is for me!

I don't think youre greedy gutses either. I eat the whole loaf sometimes (I made spelt bread once and it was so good I ate it in an hour). There's just something about homemade bread one can't resist.

vegan.in.brighton said...

Oh yum, I really love olive bread.

David J said...

What a great meal. I had to comment I love hand made bread and these loaves look awesome!

It's too easy to eat a whole loaf! Nice work.

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