Tomato Quinoa Bread

A recent post on Andrea's Cooking Books reminded me that I still had yet to try the tomato quinoa bread that I have been thinking about for months. I saw this on Kitchen Confit over the summer and saved it for when I got my mixer. Making bread is so easy with that thing! I usually have most of the ingredients lying around minus the vegetable juice which was quickly solved by my trip to Trader Joes yesterday. I'm not sure that I made this recipe entirely correctly. I put the dough in the fridge in the morning and when I took it out 8 hours later, it was not quite doubled, but I kept on going because I didn't have all day. The flavor of this bread can't be beat. It's soooo good and it was the perfect vessel for a bacon, spinach, and slow roasted tomato sandwich. There is really not a recipe for the sandwich, just a slice or two of bacon, a couple slow roasted tomatoes and some spinach. Simple and insanely delicious. Hope you're having an excellent day off!



Tomato Quinoa Bread
(From Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate
as found on Kitchen Confit and Cooking Books)

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 cup seasoned vegetable juice
1/2 cup quinoa (uncooked)
3 3/4 cups (1 pound) all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast, sugar and water together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy then stir in the oil, salt, juice and quinoa.

Fit your stand mixer with the dough hook, set it on medium-low speed and add the flour in a little at a time. Mix until most of the flour is incorporated and the dough comes together in a ball. Continue to mix for 4-5 minutes more, until the dough becomes soft and shiny, but still firm. If the dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the dough has doubled or tripled in size, this should take 8 to 12 hours. The dough may also be left in the refrigerator for up to two days, but you may need to punch it down a few times as it doubles.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and punch it down. Form the dough into a ball, return to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to double once again, this should take about an hour.

Punch the dough down one more time, then form it into a tight rectangle. Place the dough into a rectangular bread pan, cover with a cloth and let rise until double in size. One more hour.

Oven preheated to 450, slash the top of the loaf with a very sharp knife so that it can expand properly and place on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 45 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and it sounds hollow when tapped. Turn the loaf out on a wrack to cool and wait at least 1 hour before slicing (it will continue to cook while cooling).