Avocado Bread
Sorry, folks, no picture. Our digital camera's memory card insists that it is full of pictures that it does not in fact contain. But imagine, if you will, a dark brown batard (And I mean torpedo here; it looks like it could sink a submarine) which when cut open reveals an oh-so-pale green interior. The flavor is just plain bread, but the crumb is springy and moist. Here's what I did; it was incredibly haphazard, so anyone interested in a more detailed, possibly more professional recipe, leave a comment.
Makes one loaf (Hence all the fractions)
BIGA
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 3/4 cup lukewarm water
- 1/3 teaspoon active dry yeast (approximated)
I proofed the yeast in the water for ten minutes, then whisked in the flour.
DOUGH
- The biga
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup lukewarm water
- 1/3 cup active dry yeast (approximated)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ripe avocado
- A quick squeeze of lime
- Additional flour
The remaining flour got sprinkled over the biga to form a blanket before I covered the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. This blanketed biga sat around at room temperature for an hour and a half before I had to go to bed, at which point it got exiled to the fridge.
The next night I got home from work, and picking up Jian, at about six forty-five. I didn't have time to let the biga return to room temperature, so I got to find out what working with cold dough was like. I proofed the second batch of yeast and threw that in the bowl with the oil, salt, and sugar, and stirred in the flour blanket and all until it was cohesive. The kneaded the heck out of it for about three minutes, my hands freezing, before I let it rest under an overturned bowl while I cut up the avocado.
At this point, I had no idea what would happen. All I knew was that I wanted the bread greenish, so I put the avocado flesh in the center of the bowl. On a whim, squeeze about a teaspoon of lime onto it, thinking that, like in guacamole, the citrus would help keep it from browning. If this was the case in my bread, I never found out.
I kneaded the avocado in for about eight more minutes, throwing handfuls of extra flour on until it was dough-like again. Once it was smooth and elastic, I threw it in an oil bowl, covered it, and hurled myself out the door to go to my meeting for my weekend job, conveniently held from seven-thirty 'til ten-thirty on this happy Sunday night.
Upon my return I was happy to see that, yes, the dough was still green, and yes, it had risen, and risen well. I shaped it into a torpedo, gently rolling and tucking the oily dough into itself to draw the outside taught and sealing a seam in it. I then laid it on parchment on an upside-down baking sheet and draped plastic wrap on top of it.
Anxious to see how it would bake, as well as needing to go to bed soonish, I preheated the oven immediately, giving it forty-five minutes because of the stone inside. If the bread rose any more, I couldn't really tell, though I'm pretty sure it had gotten more chubby. I sprayed it with water and it baked at 475 degrees for five minutes and 425 for twenty. It's smooth and dense, a good meal-type bread.
THING I LEARNED
- Avocado flesh doesn't lend any flavor to bread, but perhaps avocado oil would; a bit pricey, though
Makes one loaf (Hence all the fractions)
BIGA
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 3/4 cup lukewarm water
- 1/3 teaspoon active dry yeast (approximated)
I proofed the yeast in the water for ten minutes, then whisked in the flour.
DOUGH
- The biga
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 cup lukewarm water
- 1/3 cup active dry yeast (approximated)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ripe avocado
- A quick squeeze of lime
- Additional flour
The remaining flour got sprinkled over the biga to form a blanket before I covered the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. This blanketed biga sat around at room temperature for an hour and a half before I had to go to bed, at which point it got exiled to the fridge.
The next night I got home from work, and picking up Jian, at about six forty-five. I didn't have time to let the biga return to room temperature, so I got to find out what working with cold dough was like. I proofed the second batch of yeast and threw that in the bowl with the oil, salt, and sugar, and stirred in the flour blanket and all until it was cohesive. The kneaded the heck out of it for about three minutes, my hands freezing, before I let it rest under an overturned bowl while I cut up the avocado.
At this point, I had no idea what would happen. All I knew was that I wanted the bread greenish, so I put the avocado flesh in the center of the bowl. On a whim, squeeze about a teaspoon of lime onto it, thinking that, like in guacamole, the citrus would help keep it from browning. If this was the case in my bread, I never found out.
I kneaded the avocado in for about eight more minutes, throwing handfuls of extra flour on until it was dough-like again. Once it was smooth and elastic, I threw it in an oil bowl, covered it, and hurled myself out the door to go to my meeting for my weekend job, conveniently held from seven-thirty 'til ten-thirty on this happy Sunday night.
Upon my return I was happy to see that, yes, the dough was still green, and yes, it had risen, and risen well. I shaped it into a torpedo, gently rolling and tucking the oily dough into itself to draw the outside taught and sealing a seam in it. I then laid it on parchment on an upside-down baking sheet and draped plastic wrap on top of it.
Anxious to see how it would bake, as well as needing to go to bed soonish, I preheated the oven immediately, giving it forty-five minutes because of the stone inside. If the bread rose any more, I couldn't really tell, though I'm pretty sure it had gotten more chubby. I sprayed it with water and it baked at 475 degrees for five minutes and 425 for twenty. It's smooth and dense, a good meal-type bread.
THING I LEARNED
- Avocado flesh doesn't lend any flavor to bread, but perhaps avocado oil would; a bit pricey, though
posted by Cam at 7:07 PM
4 Comments:
Ohh I bet that's good! The fats in the avacado must give the bread a nice texture. I kind of wonder whether the avacado oil would give it a better flavor... (Though I've never seen/tried avacado oil.) I mean, you wouldn't be able to use much of it without the oil being too much for the other ingredients to hold together, and even using a really nice olive oil doesn't make bread taste very olivey. I think I'm coming to the conclusion that using different flours is the most effective way to flavor bread. Except that's so limiting...
Sounds delicious, I dont think avacado, in and of itself is much of a potent flaovring. Case in Point: Guacamole, which relies on tomatoes and herbs to get most of its flavoring.
Sounds delightful anyways.
I live not a full kilometer away from your humble abode, if ever you have any leftovers, you know which direction to throw them.
Awesome, one of the few avocado yeast breads I could find on the Internet. One little error, I'm pretty sure you didn't you 1/3 CUP of yeast in the main dough. (I'm hoping that's a teaspoon, because I'm about to use your recipe to make an approximate bread.)
JADXIA - Wow, I'd forgotten about this blog.
Yes, you are absolutely right about the second installment of yeast. It's probably a teaspoon, since the biga method I used in this recipe is designed to reduce the overall yeast used.
Good luck!
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