This week our HB in Five Bread Challenge included two great recipes: Olive Spelt Bread and Carrot Bread.
The first bread I tackled was the Olive Spelt, which I made into buns. This recipe calls for twice the amount of spelt to unbleached all purpose flour. If you are not familiar with spelt flour, it’s an ancient grain – one of the original seven grains mentioned in the Bible. Spelt contains more protein than wheat and the protein it’s easier to digest. It makes a great crust and crumb!
Olive Spelt Buns
In addition to the spelt flour, chopped olives dot this sourdough-like bread. The sour taste comes from adding yogurt. I love our homemade yogurt and what better place than in these buns. The recipe called for green olives, but I used a combination of olives we had in the refrigerator. The white on the top of the buns is the dusting of flour that is given to the buns before popping them into the oven. These buns are our favorite so far!
Olive Spelt Buns close up
Then I was on to the next recipe – Carrot Bread. If you like carrot cake, this tastes nothing like that. But it’s still good! This bread includes carrots, dried fruit (I used last year’s dried apples), shredded coconut, and walnuts. It also includes brown sugar and cinnamon. We are pretty particular on our spices and when it comes to cinnamon, there is a big difference. We have four different varieties, but the one I chose for this bread was Vietnamese Cassia. Dave thinks it tastes like red hots. I just love it’s strong flavor. For this one loaf, the recipe only calls for one teaspoon. Since Vietnamese Cassia is strong I didn’t add more, but probably would add more next time.
If you’ve always wanted to make homemade bread, Healthy Breads in Five Minutes is the way to go. I’ve made bread for a long time and was skeptical about being able to make good bread without kneading. It is so simple. You mix the ingredients together – in either a bowl or the mixer (Mixer is easier on my wrists) and then put the dough in a container for storage.
All of the ingredients mixed up
The next step is to cover the dough and let it set on the counter for two hours. After that it can be used or stored in the refrigerator for use later. The mix keeps in the refrigerator for a week, but can also be frozen. When ready to bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator and cut off the amount needed. Since I only make half of the recipe, I use the whole amount. Form the dough and place it either on a baking stone or in a pan. For the carrot cake I placed the dough in a greased pan, covered with plastic wrap, and set it aside to rest for an hour and 45 minutes.
Carrot Bread dough resting
When the time was up, the carrot bread is brushed with egg white and sprinkled with raw sugar. Yum! It was baked at 375 degrees for 50 minutes. What a beautiful bread!
Carrot Bread just out of the oven
Carrot Cake with last year's dried apples
Dave and I made ricotta cheese the other day so, we decided to try it on this bread. Yum!
Homemade cheese on carrot bread
I sure have enjoyed baking these breads. Dave and I decided at the beginning of the year that we would not buy any bread. We’ve enjoyed baking our own. I know some of these in the HB in Five I’ll never bake again, but some have become favorites.
If you’d like more information on joining the challenge or checking out what the other bakers are doing, click here.
Both these recipes sound delicious. I love baking with spelt flour, but it took the family a while to get used to the difference in flavor. We still buy bread, but I love HBinFive; it’s made a huge difference in our dinner routines. I’m still looking for an easy sandwich loaf so if you figure out which recipe is best for a softer-style loaf bread, let me know; that might convince me to buy the book!
Your Olive Spelt Buns look great and so perfectly shaped too. We had our Carrot Bread with Cream Cheese but I bet the Ricotta was wonderful!
Beautiful breads!
Lynda, What beautiful breads. Your carrot bread is especially beautiful. I’d be interested to know which are your favorite breads from HBinFive so far.
I love the idea of dried apples in this bread. Apples are my favorite fruit- think I may try that next time. Anyway, it looks delicious. I’m fascinated with your discussion of cinnamon- I never thought about there being a big difference. I can see I’m going to have to start experimenting! I love learning new things.
Thanks for sharing.
Bonnie, Thank you! I like this Olive Spelt best so far. But I also loved the Avocado Guacamole and the pesto pine nut breads.
Marnie, We never realized the difference in spices until we read an article in the local paper several years ago. The writer wrote about Penzey’s Spices. So those are the only spices we buy anymore. In fact, last year we went an hour out of our way to go to a Penzey’s store in Indy, but we usually just mail order. Right now we have five cinnamons: Vietnamese Cassia, Korintje Cassia, Chinese Cassia, Ceylon, and their new blend of all four. If you want to jump onto the cinnamon wagon, check out their site and order the new cinnamon blend. Compare it to those you get in the store, and you will taste a big difference. And that’s just the cinnamon. Thanks for dropping by.
Beautiful loaves! I haven’t been buying bread either. Too much good bread to be made. Would you be willing to share your yogurt recipe? The ricotta sounds good too!
nice crumb on your spelt bread. I have never made ricotta even though it’s been long on my to do list. Not sure what’s holding me back. Maybe your post was the push I needed
Love your dried apples. Great job on your bread it looks so yummy.
Your breads both look great. The carrot is the best I’ve seen, beautiful rise. What kind of yeast are you using? How long did you let it sit on the counter before you baked your loaf?
Hi Cristie,
I am using Fleischmann’s Instant Dry Yeast. We could get it at Sam’s in bulk. It sat on the counter for 1hr and 45 minutes after taking it out of the refrigerator and forming it. Thank you for the compliment. It was very tasty too!!
Cathy, our yogurt recipe is on this Yogurt and more post. if you have any questions, please feel free to comment again.
We used cream cheese with our carrot bread, but homemade riccota would have been divine. Your spelt buns looked very good also.
I agree that these HBin5 breads are great. Wish they were around few years ago when I was first trying to make bread. It took me forever to get it right. The bread would never rise in our drafty house. Now all I have to do is pop the dough in the fridge! Your breads looks wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Teresa, I always loved to make bread but now with my wrist problems, this is so easy and soooo good. Thanks for dropping by.
oh my… where are these recipes?
Jennie,
The recipes are in the Healthy Breads in Five Minutes.