Thursday, August 02, 2012

Ratatouille, Sunflower seed Sourdough Bread



It's summer and I love the colour I can get from the market. Tomatoes, zucchini, aubergine, capsicum in all red, yellow and green robe. Seeing all these colourful veggies..my though went straight to Ratatouille. Easy. healthy and flavourful vegetable stew. Ratatouille is just a classic french vegetable stew. That's it!! Oh NO! it's a movie too!! Have you seen it? It's about a young garbage boy name Linguini befriended with a rat who make the best Ratatouille. Love this movie.. it brings out the romantic side of Paris and how French are when comes to their "Savoir faire"..

Anyway, I made my Ratatouille the other day and as usual there is a lot of liquid from the vegetables. So, I scope out a cup of the Ratatouille goodness and mix it to my bread :) Call me a crazy baker if you want.. Just love to experiment, always trying out new things.. sometimes good but other time..Yeekkk!! Lucky for this, it's a Yeahhhh.. how could it go wrong with all the colours and vitamins??  Not only it gives great colour but taste really good too.

Ratatouille Ingredients:

1kg                Very Ripe Tomatoes (roughly chopped up)
2 medium       Zucchini (Cut into small cubes)
1 medium       Eggplant (cut into small cubes)
4 medium       Capsicum (cut into pieces)
1 medium       Onion (cut into cubes)
3 cloves         Garlic (minced)
3 springs        Thyme
2 springs        Rosemary
3                   Bay leaves
Salt and pepper to season

1. In a pot heat a bit of olive oil to brown onions and garlic. then mix in the rest of the ingredients and cook slowly until everything turn soft, about an hour or so. Season with salt and pepper. That's it!
2. Usually, Ratatouille gives out a lot of liquid, to make it more concentrate.. I scope out most of the liquid to make soup and this time I use it for bread. Just cook the ratatouille until soft and almost dry. You can either enjoy it as a vegetable dish to go with any roast or as Pasta/pizza sauce.

By the end of summer, I would usually made a lot and freeze the extra for the winter months to come.



Here's what and how for the bread:

500gm           Bread flour
350gm           Ratatouille broth
100gm           Sourdough starter (100% hydration)
50gm +10gm Sunflower seeds (pre-soak, this is important so that you will not have burn seeds, like mine.)
5gm               Salt (I use less salt as the Ratatouille is already with salt)

  1. Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients except the 10gm of Sunflower seeds to make a soft, smooth dough.
  2. Cover the dough, and let it rise for 2 hours or more depend on your kitchen temperature, or until it's nearly doubled in bulk.
  3. Do 2 stretch and fold at 30mins and 60mins.
  4. Sprinkle some Sunflower seeds in your Benetton and let rise for about an hour or 2, until noticeably puffy.
  5. Do the finger test by pressing lightly into dough: dough that springs back immediately and leaves no indentation indicates under proofing. If the dough springs back somewhat but still leaves a discern indentation then it's proofed properly - with just enough rise left to give you some nice oven spring. But if the indentation just stares back at you you've probably let it ferment too long.
  6. Bake in a preheated 200°C oven for 10 minutes, with steam.  Then another 20 - 30mins or until bread turn golden red and sounds hollow when tapped at the bottom.
  7. Cool on a rack.

This bread goes very well with some scramble eggs, you can use it for brochetta too. I love it toasted and spread with some creamy goat cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Sending this to Yeast Spotting  and BYOB

 

14 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, I absolutely love the idea of using the broth from your ratatouille in the bread! I bet the flavor it lends is SO tasty. Your bread is incredibly tempting and looks just beautiful with the light streaming in over it. What I wouldn't give for a slice... =)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Heather,
      Thanks for dropping by..you are always so encouraging. This make baking more fun.

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  2. What a great secret ingredient, so very creative! The color is beautiful and your bread turned out so well. Thank you for sharing this with BYOB.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Michelle,
      Creative and crazy both starts with the letter C! LOl!! Thanks for dropping by and your kind words. I am loving this blogging community :) have a great weekend :)

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  3. Hi I am dropping by via BYOB. What a beautiful loaf you have there. And I am sure the addition of Ratatouille broth made it extra moist and delicious!

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  4. Found your bread via BYOB. What a great idea to use the Ratatouille broth in the bread! I bet it gives a really great flavor to your loaf.

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  5. Dear Sylvia,
    What a creative idea in using broth in bread making. Yes, agreed we should experiment new way of baking, if you can use milk instead of water why not soup?
    I bet this Ratatouille Sourdough loaf has all the rich flavour in and full of vitamin c from the veggie :-)
    Great effort!

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  6. Found this through BYOB. I want to try this!

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  7. Dearest Mich, Curiouscuisiniere, Yin and Karen,

    Now, This bread is going to taste even better with all your kind words :) You all make me a very Happy Baker :) xoxoxxo

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  8. Hi Sylvia,

    I'm really impressed by your blog especially the photos + cooking skills.
    I always have problems coming out with dishes when my in laws come, and sometimes they stay for several days so more headache :-).
    I have browsed through your blog and you have given me some ideas. I think I will prepare the stuff mushroom and next time. I have never cooked rabbit, will probably try with your recipe.
    Thanks for sharing.

    Bonne soirée

    Bee Ean

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  9. Hi Bee Ean,

    Thanks for dropping and your kind words. Super happy to see you here :) Yes, i do have my in laws coming times to times too as they want to taste something "Different" so I am always happy to make them 'Try" :) but due to the different way of eating (course by course).. me and hubby have to plan in advance to come out with a menu. But it's never a problem coz i love to cook.

    Let me know how it goes when you try the mushrooms and rabbit..
    Have fun!!
    Sylvia

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  10. This bread is truly gorgeous! I love how it uses all kinds of wonderful produce! I love ratatouille, I will definitely have to make this!! :)

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  11. Hi,

    Can i ask if you put the benetton into the oven too?

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    Replies
    1. Hi blueminic,

      No. the benetton is where the dough proof. To get the dough out of the benetton, place a piece of patchment paper on the benetton then place a peel (or your chopping board) on top of the patchment paper and turn the benetton upside down. Carefully and gently free the dough from the benetton..and transfer the dough into oven.
      Hope this help..

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