Bean Bread

Bean bread

Happy New Year! Maybe one of your new years resolution is to start baking bread so here is an easy and healthy recipe.

This is a recipe I came with during this week of our Frugal Food challenge when our family of five is eating healthy for a $100 a week. We have been documenting our challenge on Youtube and you can see the videos here:

Beans in bread makes the bread very spongy and adds protein to it. It was a huge hit with my children so I will make this more often. You can use any beans and I used white beans because it was what I had on hand.

1 package active dry yeast

3 cups white spelt flour or all-pupose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1 1/2 cups warm water

1/2 cup cooked beans

1 tbsp. olive oil

Sesame seeds for decoration (optional)

Milk, enough to brush dough

Combine yeast, salt, sugar and flour in a large bowl or KitchenAid. Mix water and beans until smooth and add oil, and add to flour mixture. Really work the dough well until it lets go of the bowl. Add more flour if dough still feels sticky. Sprinkle some flour on top and cover bowl with a towel. Leave in a warm, draft free place to rise for 30 minutes.

Knead dough for a few minutes on a surface sprinkled with some flour. Shape dough into a loaf and place in a loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Cover with a towel and allow to rise for another 30 minutes. Preheat oven to F 450. Brush the loaf with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds over it. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until loaf is golden brown and seems hollow.

Let it cool off before slicing.

If you’re looking for a gluten free bean bread recipe, I recommend this recipe

Did you know that bread requires only four ingredients — flour, yeast, water and salt? So it’s mind boggling that almost all breads sold at grocery stores contain a number of additives … which are not all food, by the way. It’s a sad fact that packaged bread is not as good as we might think and may contain scary additives, some that may indeed be harmful to human health. Let talk about chemicals lurking in bread. You can read more about that in my post about chemicals in store bought bread.