Vegan Heart Beet Bread - Beetroot Bread - Valentine Bread

Wishing all my readers a very Happy Valentine's Day. When you are a blogger who needs to take care of your blog baby, you end up celebrating most festivals twice. It is a sentiment you will understand only if you are a blogger. The recipes need to make it to the blog before the day of the celebration so that the readers can use it to cook for the festival. Then ofcourse, I have to make something for us, don't I?

After making Red Velvet Cake and Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Strawberry Sauce, I made this Beet Bread as a treat for my family on Valentine's Day. The bread has a wonderful red/pink colour. The beet taste is very subtle. You will not know it unless you are told about it.

The flowers from my Valentine!

Bread Recipe Adapted from here
Shaping Idea Adapted from here

Ingredients

Water 3/4 cup
Beet Puree 1.5 cups (I got 300 gms of cooked beets and pureed it).
Bread Flour (or use All Purpose Flour) 4.5 - 5 cups ( 585 gms - 650 gms) **
Olive Oil 2 tbsp
Salt 2 tsp (i used only 1 and found it lacking in salt)
Sugar 1 tbsp
Instant Yeast 1 pkt (2 1/4 tsp)

Method of Preparation

1. Add the flour (start with 3.5 cups and add more later if needed), yeast, salt and sugar to a mixing bowl. Mix well. ** The original recipe called only for 3.5 to 4.5 cups of flour for this quantity of liquid. But I needed about 5 cups of flour.

2. Add warm water and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Mix well.

3. Add beet puree and knead well. Add more flour if need be.

4. Roll into a ball and place on an oiled bowl covered. Let it rise till doubled. It will take about an hour or so.

5. Divide the dough into 3 portions.

6. Roll each one into a ball. Place on a floured baking sheet.

7. Poke a hole in the center. Work with it stretching it till it is a big circular tube about 1" diameter. I found it easier to hold it like a steering wheel and pass it around.

8. Place it back on the sheet and fold to form a heart shape. Pinch the ends.

9. Cover and let it rise again for 30-45 min. It will not rise a lot, but will have a puffed look.

10. Preheat oven to 190 C(375 F). Make some slits on the top of the bread and bake for 20 min.