Spinach Cheese Bread

Gosh those look evil! exclaimed Swati my neighbor. You guys too might be shocked at the sight especially if you are Indian. You know what I am talking about. Chill guys I was not indulging in any tantra mantra. Those are just dough balls of spinach that I baked to make bread. The red is not blood just plain old red chili powder. Don't you recognize the cheddar cheese at least ;).

Well after all that mischief let me tell you how I created this original recipe. Yeah it is original I haven't seen it anywhere else yet. I had blanched and pureed spinach for another recipe but had too much of it. I was yet to do my ritual baking gig and in a flash I thought why not spinach cheese bread. It is a real surprise to see spinach retain its color even after baking. I think kids will freak out on this bread. So here you go.

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

0.5 cup warm water

1.5 tablespoon active dry yeast

1.5 cups spinach blanched and pureed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cheddar cheese bit sized cubes

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

First take sugar in a small bowl and add warm water to it. Sprinkle the active dry yeast over it and go for a stroll. Comeback after 10 mins. It will become frothy by the time you are back.

Take the all purpose flour in a large bowl mix in the frothy yeast. Add the salt and the blanched and pureed spinach and mix with wooden spoon to get a ball. Rub the butter into the dough. Remove on a lightly flour dusted counter. Knead well.

Grease the big bowl generously and place the dough to rise. One hour should be good enough or till it doubles in size.

After this roll out the dough into a rectangle. Spread cheddar cheese cubes and cumin seeds. Then roll it into a bundle like you would roll a mat real tight. Cut up into equal sized 6 portions and pat them into a greased tray. Sprinkle generously on top red chili powder. Finally place 2X2 inch pieces of cheddar cheese on the mounds of dough. Allow to rise for the second time till double or for an hour.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 mins at 190 deg cel. Remove from oven once cheese is browned and the bread sound hollow when tapped. Onto a grill to cool a bit.

Serve warm with tomato sauce. The molten cheese and the fluffy bread ahhh! Needless to say Swati stayed for dinner. I packed it for lunch the next day too.