CHRISTMAS DREAMS AND WISHES 13/14 Beautiful christmas tree

“SPINACH SANDWICH”

Hey guys! I've been MIA lately because of work and classes, but I promise I will be updating more in the next couple of weeks. Last week, I was lucky enough to spend a few days in LA for work. If you follow me on Instagram, you already saw all the awesome foodie places I went to and if not, I will be profiling one of the restaurants soon.

Before I left, I still had a lot of fresh produce. Being one never to waste anything, I had to cook as much as I could and freeze for when I come back. I found this great spinach bread recipe from Sass and Veracity that I adapted to include only what I had in my fridge and pantry. I really like this recipe because similar to the other crusty bread recipe I've made before, this one requires very little time and no kneading at all. You literally just mix everything together with the biggest wooden spoon you have and let the yeast do the rest of the work.

1 cup fresh steamed spinach, chopped (about a 1/2 lb before steamed)

1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, julienned

3 egg whites

2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2/3 cups grated Parmesan (can also use feta, Gouda, Pecorino, whatever cheese you want)

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Steam the spinach and squeeze out as much water as you can. You should get a cup of spinach. Mix the yeast, salt, spinach, Parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes, sugar, egg whites, water and flour in a large bowl.

Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated. The dough will be a bit wet. This bread recipe is so easy you don’t even need to knead. Cover with either a tea towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise for two hours at room temperature.

Lightly spray a baking sheet with olive oil. Flour your hands and rip out ten balls of dough. Shape them into even rounds. Allow the dough to rise again for another hour at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 450F degrees. Place a tray with one cup of warm water in the oven while it is preheating. When the oven is ready, slide the bread quickly into the oven and close the door. You don’t want the steam to escape. It will help create the bread crust, similar to this baguette recipe and this crusty bread recipe. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until golden brown. Fresh bread is so irresistible to me. I hate the waiting part!

Allow to cool completely on a rack, if you can resist.

I grew up in a town which had a fabulous family-owned bakery, Frances's Bakery.  We loved their breads, cakes, pies, cookies, brownies but most of all their spinach bread.  The bread was stuffed with tons of tasty, garlicy and cheesey spinach and was my way of finally eating spinach as a kid.  I'd start with the ends which had a higher bread to spinach ratio than the rest of the loaf.  And as I got older I'd forgo the ends for the most spinach middle pieces.  We'd often pick up two loaves at a time, one with meat (salami and ham)and one without.  When I had kids of my own we'd stop off there and pick up a spinach bread and bring it over to my mother's house.  The same family owned it and would still hand out rainbow cookies to my kids-- until a few years ago they sold it.  After that the quantity and quality went down and the new owners stopped getting our business.

So, with so much spinach from my CSA last week I decided to try my hand at making my own spinach bread.  I searched for recipes online but didn't really find anything that I was looking for, so I thought I'd just wing it. 

For the amount of spinach to use, you want good amount in bread & once it cooks it decreases in volume.  So start off with a generous amount.

  Spinach Bread

2 cups flour (½ cup whole wheat, 3 ½ cups all purpose)

½ tsp salt

¼ yeast

1 cup water

4-6 cups fresh spinach

2 cloves garlic, minced

handful shredded mozzarella

handful shredded parmesan

salt & pepper

olive oil

Mix flour, salt, yeast and water together until gooey.  Either knead on well floured surface and let rise for 2 hours or leave covered in oiled bowl overnight to rise.  Stretch out dough so it's about 1/3 inch thick rectangle.  Let rest on parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Steam the cleaned and de-stemmed spinach until wilted.  Drain well.  Sauté garlic with 1 tsp olive oil until cooked but not brown.  Add spinach back to garlic & oil.  Mix well and then squeeze out excess liquid. Chop spinach so it's easy to bite. 

Brush olive oil on dough and spread spinach, mozzarella & parmesan all over except edges.  Season with salt & pepper to taste.  Optional fresh or dried basil, oregano or tiny bit of nutmeg.   Using parchment paper, grab side & pull, should help roll dough/spinach into loaf.  Cut away excess parchment.

Place on cookie sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes.  Let cool slightly and cut into pieces to serve.

It worked and the boys loved it too!  I brought it to friend's house and they too loved it.  I decided to make again this week (had even more spinach!) with all white flour and brought it over to another friend's home.  It was a huge hit.  The boys ran to grab a piece before it was all gone!

Can be served hot, warm or cold!