Carrot Bread

The final Shabbat that we had with the girls was spent in the dorms and as I was baking for it minimally, I decided to bake some rolls for myself. I'd long been wanting to make carrot bread and on one of my trips to the shuk, I remembered to pick up a couple to make the recipe from Secrets of a Jewish Baker, fast becoming one of my favorite bread books. (Yes, there is a bit of competition for that spot. I have more bread books than anything else!!) The bread calls for a sponge and some grated or ground carrots. The carrots lent a lovely orange color to the bread, but I wonder if the ground carrots would have made the color more intense and lent more of a sweetness to the bread itself. I opted to make half a recipe, which resulted in six large, perfect sandwich rolls. They turned out crusty on the outside but nice and soft in the middle. The flavor is much like a water roll and the texture is quite sturdy, so these would be perfect for burgers or sandwiches. I enjoyed mine with lots of eggplant salads on Shabbat. I omitted the milk powder from the recipe to keep them parve, but I imagine the addition of milk would make the texture a bit softer. I also made a note to increase the salt for next time, something I seem to be doing in all of Greenstein's breads. These rolls are being Yeastspotted! Check out Susan's weekly round up on Friday.

Carrot Bread
slightly adapted from Secrets of a Jewish Baker

Sponge:
2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tbsp instant yeast
3 cups flour

Dough:
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oil
2 cups ground or shredded carrots
1 cup whole wheat flour
1-2 cups white flour
1 tbsp salt

Place the sponge ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer.

Mix until thoroughly combined.

Cover and let stand for about 30-45 minutes or until doubled in volume.

To the sponge add the sugar, oil, carrots, wheat flour, almost all of the white flour and the salt.

Using the paddle attachment, mix to moisten all the ingredients.

Switch to the dough hook and knead for about 6-8 minutes on medium speed until the dough is smooth but tacky.

Place in an oiled bowl and toss to coat. Refrigerate overnight.

Here is my risen dough the next morning.

Scale the dough into the desired amount. I cut the recipe in half and made rolls. The whole will make 3 8 inch loaves.

Shape the rolls and place in a greased pan. Cover and allow to proof until doubled. Towards the end of proofing, preheat the oven to 400.

Here are my proofed rolls.

Bake until the rolls register 190 in the center and are a nice brown color. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. Store in a plastic bag.