Bread Baking Babes bake with beans

And I'm here for another episode of the baking adventures of the Bread Baking Babes, this time with a recipe chosen by our lovely babe Kelly ("A messy kitchen").
It's a bread that I've baked before, but so delicious to bake time and time again, you can make your daily sandwiches and put anything you like on it. The bread itself has a soft crumb because of the mashed cooked white beans. So you have veggies in your bread too! This soft bread is much appreciated in our home (although they really do eat any bread I make). And this is a very nice way to make it softer without any weird additives. You can soak and cook dried beans, or just buy a can/jar with cooked beans. And of course a great way to use up some left over beans from your meal. This bread is made with white beans, my hunch is that's for keeping it a light colour, but you could use any bean you want (well not like runner beans).
Have a go and bake along with us and treat your family with this beautiful loaf. Become our Bread Baking Buddy, check out the details on Kelly's blog. Send your findings, details about the bread to Kelly, she's our Kitchen of the month, deadline 29th of this month. Happy baking!

Velvety Bean Bread

(makes 2 small loaves or one large)

(PRINT recipe)

2 tsp active dry yeast

250 g lukewarm water

200 g drained cooked or canned navy beans, room temp (or white beans or cannellini beans)

130 g whole wheat flour

1 TBsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

± 320 g bread flour (more or less depending on the moisture in the beans)

Dissolve yeast in water.  Process beans until smooth, transfer to a large bowl or stand mixer.  Stir yeast mixture into beans.  Add the whole wheat flour and stir for one minute, in one direction, to develop the dough.  Add the oil and salt and stir them in.  Add 120 g of the bread flour and stir in.  Add the remaining flour and knead in with a dough hook, or work in and knead by hand for about 5 minutes, until smooth.

Place dough in a bowl, cover, and let rise for 3 hours, or until almost doubled in volume.

Turn out dough and divide in half.  Butter two small bread pans.  Form each portion of dough into a loaf and place seam side down in the pans.  (or use one large tin)

Cover with lightly greased plastic and let the dough rise.  Check at 1 hour and continue to proof if needed.

Preheat oven to 200ºC, have a spray bottle or small cup of water ready for steam.  Slash each loaf lengthwise, place in oven and bake for 5 minutes, adding steam at the start of the baking.  Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 180ºC and bake for 25 minutes until rich brown with a matte finish.  Turn the loaves out and check for doneness. Finish cooling on a wire rack before slicing.

(recipe: “Home Baking” - Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid )