Spinach Bread

I wanted to make a green bread. I have tried matcha and pandan powder, but after watching spinach being used for its colour in a technical challenge in the Great British Bake Off, I was inspired to use it in bread!

Unfortunately for me, the spinach only gave the bread the slightest hint of green. Improvement needed!

I also adapted the recipe into a tang zhong one to hope for a softer bread.

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Recipe adapted from novicehousewife and crumblycookie.

Spinach Bread (with Tang Zhong)
– makes one 450g loaf

For the tang zhong:

15g bread flour
75g water

Stir both together in a saucepan on low fire until stirring trails start to form. Remove from heat, cover and refrigerate until ready for use.

For the dough:

50g fresh spinach leaves, blanched and pureed
233g bread flour
1/2tsp sugar
1/4tsp salt
1tsp instant yeast
60g water (save 10g for adjustment)
1Tbsp vegetable oil
8 cloves of roasted garlic
2Tbsp Mature cheddar shavings
All of tang zhong made above

Bake at 200ºC for 35-40 minutes.

**Blanching the spinach: Immerse fresh spinach in rapidly boiling water. When the water turns to a boil, drain the spinach and rinse it in cold water. This is to stop it from further cooking to retain the vibrant green colour. Gently squeeze dry, then puree/chop finely.

Make the dough as usual. Only knead in the garlic cloves at the last minute or by hand.

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How the proofed dough looked like. The dough was a bit slack.

It was standing round, tall and proud at first, but it did not take long to ‘deflate’ into a ‘rocky ball’ 😦

Texture: Soft and well-developed. Not dense. However for me, I think I stretched it for a bit too long and the gluten weakened, so it was rather gluey. It would had been a great texture had the gluten development been done properly.

Taste: Savoury sprung to mind at first bite. Then garlic. Then maybe a bit of spinach. It’s all very mild though, it could definitely use more flavour. Pleasant overall.

I think I will give this another try, but things I would change are:
– Use the spinach cooking water (cooled) in place of water to get more green colour
– More spinach, maybe 70g
– Only knead in roasted garlic cloves during shaping
– Or use a entirely different recipe.