Valentines Bread Loaf
Hugh, I made this bread for you with every beet of my heart

So, Valentine’s day is approaching, and I have heard that on this day you are supposed to offer a gift to the one you love. Since I seem unable to find Hugh Jackman’s address, I will share here his gift, just in case he is reading me 😛

To prepare this bread loaf I have used this kit that Doodlecook gifted me. It includes a silicone tin, a heart doodle shaper, a squisher, instructions and enough bread mix to make your a cocoa bread loaf. Although as I said before, the kit comes with a bread mix (all natural ingredients) I decided to prepare my own dough, using boiled beet water to dye the dough.

If you do not have this kit, and still want to prepare this kind of bread loaf, I would suggest trying this technique I have seen for cakes, I think it might work for breads as well (although I believe you will have to freeze the bread shapes) Alternatively, you might use a normal tin loaf, combined with one of these molds, and follow the recipe below.

Happy Saint Valentine’s day!


Valentines Bread Loaf


{Valentine’s bread loaf}

Preparation: 20 min (plus 1-2 hours rising)
Cooking time: 30 min

Yield: a 500 g bread loaf

Ingredients

  • 300 g strong bread flour
  • 25 g fresh yeast
  • 150 ml milk
  • 50 g melted butter, cold
  • 7 g salt
  • 2 tbs honey
  • 15 g boiled beet water
  • 15-30 g strong bread flour

Directions:

  1. Put the flour and yeast in a bowl and combine. Add milk and butter. Add salt and honey. Use a large spoon (or pastry scraper) to mix everything together.
  2. Take the dough out of the bowl and knead. You will feel the dough become elastic after kneading for about 5 minutes. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes or until the dough is soft, pliable, smooth and slightly shiny
  3. Divide de dough in three portions
  4. Take one portion back into the bowl, add beet water and about 15 flour. Knead until combined, adding a bit more flour if it is too sticky
  5. Oil well the heart shaper (or mold), place in the middle of the baking tin, and pop the coloured dough into the middle heart shaper.
  6. Pop the remaining dough portions into the corners of the tin. Use the squisher to push the dough down into the mold
  7. Leave the dough rise for an hour or two, until it has doubled size
  8. Very gently remove the heart shaper or mold. Preheat oven to 350º F
  9. Place the tin in the oven (upright) and bake for 25-30 minutes
  10. Take the tin out of the oven, wait a few minutes, and turn the bread out of the tin. Allow to cool before slicing. (it is better sliced the next day) Please find here a step by step video showing how to use the Doodle bread kit
NOTES:

  • If you do not want to use beet, try using powdered cocoa or strawberry instead (using less flour in that case). Or use food colouring
  • The best way to store it is to slice it and freeze it
  • If you have prepared this recipe, and want to send me a pic and your comments, please use this form . If you wish to subscribe to receive my recipes in English please do it here