Beetroot Toast Bread Recipe is an easy recipe which uses combination of boiled and roasted beets to get an amazing red coloured bread
If you follow me on Instagram or FB, you would know about my craze for getting the proper colour using beetroot bread. I keep searching for tips, experimenting and usually I share all my results in social media.
My very first attempt that has been posted in the blog was to make puree of boiled beetroot and the bread turned out brown. Then after one of my Insta friends shared her tip, I grated boiled beets and used it for the dough. The bread was so much better and it turned out pink.
Then I came across another tip in Insta which asked to use a combination of roasted and boiled beets and add Vit C tablet to get that amazing colour. I decided to try it this time. But I didn’t have Vit C tablet. So instead, I added orange puree ( pureed orange juice, a little water and zest) for Vit C and kept my fingers crossed.
This recipe also uses some elaborate steps to get the perfect softness and good airy crumb. Pre ferment and autolysis are combined together to get the perfect crumb texture.
Beetroot Toast Bread Recipe – Pre ferment and Autolysis
Pre ferment is one of the amazing ways to develop flavour in breads. It acts like sourdough levain, but is quick to make as it is made with instant yeast. A small portion of the flour from the bread is added with yeast and let to ferment before adding to the main dough. There are so many different pre ferments around the world like Biga, Poolish and Pate Fermentee. But the basis is the same, flour, water and yeast are combined together and let to ferment before using in the main dough.
Autolysis – Autolysis is a method of mixing just flour and water and allowing it to rest so that the gluten development starts even before you start with the kneading process. The flour absorbs the water in the dough well, and as a result, the dough softens up and becomes stronger.
After the autolysis period, all the other ingredients like pre ferment, salt and butter are added and then kneaded. This gives amazing strength to the dough which in turn adds so much lightness and softness in the crumb.
Beetroot Toast Bread Recipe – Preparing the Beetroot
Half the quantity of beetroot is roasted in oven. Place the beetroot in foil, drizzle a little bit of olive oil, wrap the beetroot with the foil and place in a 200C preheated oven. Bake the beets until tender. If the beets are small, it will take 30-45 minutes. Otherwise it may take one hour. Allow the beets to cool completely before opening the foil. Remove the skin of beets and set aside.
The remaining beets are boiled in a pan until tender. Cool completely, remove skin and set aside.
Use a grater to grate all the beets. Use the largest hole in the grater. This gives amazing colour.
Beetroot Toast Bread – Flour Used
I have used bread flour to make this bread. Vivaan is the brand I use and it is easily available in Amazon. Please click on this link to buy the flour from Amazon.
You can also use maida or whole wheat bread flour (again Vivaan, click to buy it) instead of bread flour in this recipe. Adjust water because every flour absorbs liquid differently.
Beetroot Toast Bread Recipe – Kneading
The mixing is done in stages. The mixing of pre ferment and autolysis dough is quite brief. Just mix until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. But after they are ready, you should knead the dough for 10 – 12 minutes minimum to develop gluten and get good strong dough. Always test for window pane test before stopping the kneading process.
If kneading it by stand mixer, you should knead the dough for 10 minutes and if kneading by hand, knead for 12 minutes. Set a timer and knead as it is a very important step for getting good bread.
The recipe given in this post is made with 400 gm of flour. This is enough to fill a 5″ cube tin. So you can make a large 5″ loaf with the dough or you can divide it into 8 equal portions and roll them to make small burger buns. I have used a rusk tin to make two loaves with the dough.
Beetroot Toast Bread – Baking
OTG – Preheat oven to 200C for 10-15 minutes, place the bread tin in the middle rack and bake
Convection – Preheat oven to 180C for 10-15 minutes or set preheat in the oven and let it complete preheating. Use the small rack and place the bread tin on top and bake.
Stove top – Use a heavy bottomed pan or cooker in the smaller burner and medium flame. If using cooker, remove the gasket and whistle and then preheat for 10-15 minutes. Place a small stand inside and keep your tin on top. Then cover and bake.
Baking time – If baking in a 5″ tin, bake it for 40 minutes and if shaped into small rolls, then bake for 25-30 minutes.
Beetroot Toast Bread Recipe – The importance of resting
Once the bread is baked, it should be immediately removed from the tin and allowed to cool completely on a wire rack. It might take one to two hours.
The crust will be hard and crusty. Wrap the bread in two aluminium foils and let it rest overnight on counter. This rest is very important for any bread to develop flavour and softness. So don’t skip this part.
Use a serrated knife to slice the bread the next day.
My previous attempt with grated beetroot ( click on image for recipe)
If you are a beginner and love to understand bread baking and love to bake amazing breads with whole wheat flour, semolina and bread flour, I have a class for you guys. Click on the image below to find all the details about the class. This is available as a recorded class now.
Beetroot Toast Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 Small Beetroot
Pre Ferment:
- 100 gm Bread Flour
- 150 gm Grated Beetroot
- 1-2 tbs Water
- 1 tsp Instant Yeast
Autolysis:
- 300 gm Bread Flour
- 250 gm Grated Beetroot
- 1 tbs Orange zest
- 20 gm Butter
- 1 tsp Salt
- Water as needed
Instructions
- Remove the root and stem of beetroot and wash them thoroughly.
- Wrap three small beetroots in aluminium foil along with a little olive oil drizzled on top.
- Bake them in 200C preheated oven until tender. If a knife inserted goes through it easily, then it is done.
- Remove from oven, allow them to cool completely.
- Cook two beetroots in a pan filled with water. Check with a knife if they are done.
- Remove from water and allow them to cool completely.
- Peel the roasted and cooked beetroots, grate them using a large grater and set aside.
Making the Pre ferment:
- Mix together 100 gm bread flour, yeast, 100 gm grated beetroot and one or two tbs of water to make thick dough.
- Cover and set aside for 45 minutes.
Autolysis:
- In another bowl or stand mixer bowl, mix together 300 gm bread flour, 250 gm of grated beetroot and enough water to make thick dough.
- Once the dry ingredients come together, stop mixing, cover with cling film and set it aside for 45 minutes.
- Making the main dough:
- Add the pre ferment to the autolysis dough, and start kneading the dough either by hand or in stand mixer.
- Knead them together for 5 minutes by mixer and seven minutes by hand.
- Now add butter and salt and keep kneading for another 5 minutes either by hand or by mixer.
- Take the dough, transfer it to a bowl greased with oil, cover with cling film and set aside until it is double in volume. It may take anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours depending on the climate.
- Degas the dough and if baking in a 5” cube pan, shape the entire dough as a huge ball with smooth top and place inside the loaf tin.
- If baking as small rolls, divide the dough into 8 equal portions.
- Rest it for five minutes.
- Then shape each portion as a tight roll and place inside a tin or arrange on a baking tray.
- Cover and let it rise until double the volume. It may take anywhere from 20 minutes to one hour.
- Preheat oven to 200C.
- Bake the bread in the preheated oven. 40 minutes if baked in 5” loaf tin, 30 minutes if baked as small loaf or rolls.
- Once the bread is well coloured and the crust is perfectly hard, remove it from the oven.
- Immediately remove the bread out of the tin and let it cool on wire rack.
- Once it is completely cool. Wrap in two layers of aluminium foil and let it rest for 8-12 hours before slicing.
- Store left over slices in an air tight box in fridge.
