Whole Wheat and Oats Pesto Bread

When whole wheat, oats and pesto meet all you have is a goodness redefined. It happened in my kitchen yesterday, I was down with a bad cold and cough and was craving for some hot and spicy soup and a bread to go along with it. Inspite of not being too well there was this strong urge to bake some bread. A quick stock of my fridge and I saw some basil which needed to be used and a bottle of peeled pine nuts which I had picked up from Delhi and was begging to be used, and someone told me basil is supposed to be good for cold isn’t it 😉

The aroma of freshly ground pesto is so comforting. The mild sweetness of basil balanced by the strong aroma of garlic… Alas my cold didn’t let me enjoy any of those but still pounding these together was a joy in itself

Recipe – Basil Pine Pesto

What I used

• 2 cups of fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 4 pods of garlic

How I made it

• Place all the ingredients in a mortar and pestle and pound till coarse
• Add the salt, pepper and add the olive oil slowly in a drizzle while you continue pounding
• And your pesto is ready to serve

You can also use the food processor to grind the ingredients but trust me the hand pounding is every bit worth it

And now that we have the pesto ready lets move on to the bread shal we 🙂 Just look at that crust, I really fell in love with it 🙂

The oats and the pesto gave the bread a lovely texture and flavor and everyone at home just loved eating this, even the child who usually is not very fond of basil flavor happily eat the bread. The green color amused him too and he asked me whether I have put spinach in this just like I do in green pooris 🙂

Recipe – Whole Wheat and Oats Pesto Bread

Adapted from Kitchen Kemistry

What I used

• 3/4 cup Whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup oats
• 3 tablespoons Pesto (recipe above)
• 1 teaspoon Instant dry yeast
• approx 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon EV Olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon roasted garlic

How did I make it

• Mix the flour, oats, salt, yeast, garlic and pesto together either using the paddle attachment of your mixer or hand. (If you are using active dry yeast or fresh yeast you will have to let the yeast stand in water for 10 minutes before mixing)
• When its just mixed switch to the dough hook and slowly add warm water and knead it starts looking a dough like. Add the oil at this stage
• Put the machine at medium speed and forget about it for next 5-6 minutes, you can have your coffee till it kneads. If you kneading by hand continue kneading for 10 minutes or so. Go on its a good upper body workout 🙂 You need to knead it the dough is soft and elastic in nature
• Keep the dough in a greased bowl, covered with cling wrap and leave it in a warm place for 1-2 hours till it doubles in size. If its a little cold leave it inside your oven with the light on
• Knock back all the air out of the ferment dough and knead it gently again for about 2-3 minutes. At this point of time don’t be very harsh with your dough.
• Let it rest for another 15 minutes
• Knock back the air again and shape it desired shape and please it on the baking tray. Let it proof again for about 45 minutes or so till it doubles. About 15 minutes after, heat your oven to 250C
• Brush the bread with egg wash (optional but it gives the crust a beautiful color, if you don’t want to use egg you can also use oil+milk to brush the bread)
• Reduce the temperature of the oven to 200C and bake the bread for about 35 mins or so till the crust is nice and brown and the bottom of the bread sounds hollow when tapped

Happy eating, we eat it with grilled vegetables and baked eggs. Yes the original idea of soup got changed somewhere midway 🙂