Tomato/Pesto Bread
Sundried Tomato & Pesto Bread Recipe Here's what I do to make this bread. I have to be truthful, I don't do precise measurements on the tomato and pesto parts! However, for the bread, I always use a scale to get the exact weights as listed. This results in a great, light, and moist dough. The basic bread dough is as follows: 9 oz. Unbleached White bread flour 9 oz. Whole Wheat bread flour 2 oz. Semolina Pasta flour 1 1/2 tsp. yeast 2 tsp. sea salt 2 to 3 tbl. Olive Oil 13 fluid oz. water 1/2 cup Sundried Tomatoes (Note: I use the type that are soaked in Olive oil. They're more moist. I slice these up and soak up most of the olive in in paper towels before putting them in the dough) Pesto: I literally make a drier style pesto so the bread doesn't become too gooey from a moist pesto. The basic ingredients are the usual ones: basil, toasted pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic and a smaller than normal amount of a good quality olive oil. Blend all these ingredients together to make a dried pesto. By dried, I mean that you can form the pesto into a shape and are able to slice it. Blend flours, yeast and salt together. Add olive oil and then water. I sometimes use a Cuisinart to mix this. Otherwise, I use my hands and mix in a large bowl until the ingredients come together in a ball. Then I have a space (albeit a very small amount of space) on my countertop in my galley that I take the dough and use the throwing method bakers use in making breads. It really works well and is a great way to take out any frustrations of the week. Once the dough is slightly sticky. Sprinkle a small amount of flour in the bottom of a bowl. Knead the dough by folding the dough inwards toward the center of the ball just until there is barely a seam there. Place the round of dough, seam side down into bowl. Cover bowl with damp towel and let dough rise until double in size. You can now divide the dough into two for making two loaves of bread, or keep in one piece for a large loaf, or make rolls. Whatever you choose, flatten dough into a round or rectangle. Take the sliced sun dried tomatoes and press them throughout the dough. Follow this with thin slices of pesto and press the pesto down into the dough as best you can. Fold in the ends of the dough over the tomato/pesto ingredients and then roll the dough as if you're making a log. This can be a bit frustrating as the pesto and tomatoes will fight you a bit. However, you can work the dough into a round or a large bagette shape. You'll want to press in the seam on the bottom to form a seal so the ingredients won't fall out or split the dough while baking. It takes a bit of practice but over time you'll learn how to work the dough and win the battle! Once you have your loaf formed, place the loaf on your baking pan and place the damp towel over the dough and let rise again for at least 30-45 minutes. While dough is rising, heat the oven to 350. On my boat, I don't have a thermometer so I just wing it. I also fill the bottom rack in my oven (as it's more like a cookie sheet style rack) with water just before baking the bread. Another hint: I use a Silpat and it seems to make the dough brown better and gives my bread a good crunchy crust. Because I don't have a true temperature to go by, I just bake my bread until it's done, which in my galley oven takes about 30 minutes. Enjoy!
