Feta Sun-Dried Tomato Quick Bread #BreadBakers

A savory loaf that would be as welcome for breakfast as for lunch or dinner, this feta sun-dried tomato quick bread is delightful on its own, or smeared with butter or cream cheese.

I have to be honest, I’ve never really thought about the color of bread. The desired delicious ingredients go in and it turns out the color it turns out, right? Well, this month for Bread Bakers our host Mireille of The Schizo Chef challenged us to bake colorful breads, using only natural colorants. Of course, breads have to taste good, but suddenly color became important too.

I started my search for ideas by looking up natural ways to dye Easter eggs and homemade Play-Do. Loads of good ideas but none of them sounded particularly tasty. And then it popped into my head: Sun-dried tomatoes! Those are both tasty and colorful, plus I have a bagful of homemade sun-dried tomatoes. And since I wasn’t sure just how colorful those would be, I added some ground annatto as well.

The original recipe for this very adapted version comes from the long, deep rabbit hole that is the interwebs. I found it first on gottagetbaked, but as I read the post, my friend Nancy revealed that she had adapted it from this recipe by Jen at Juanita’s Cocina. Oh, good. A source to quote, I thought.

But that wasn’t the end of the trail. Jen had actually made the bread as part of a Secret Recipe post using instructions from Debra at Eliot’s Eats. Sooooo, I clicked through. Turns out that Deb was inspired to create the recipe after reading the essay Ploughman’s Lunch from Outlaw Cook* by John Thorne and Matt Lewis Thorne.

And there was a whole afternoon happily gone. But never wasted.

Feta Sun-dried Tomato Quick Bread

This recipe is adapted from one called “A Simple Plowman’s Lunch: Beer, Onion and Cheese Bread” from Elliot’s Eats. If you haven’t met Deb yet, go on over and pay her a visit. She’s got some great recipes.

Ingredients (1 standard loaf)
1/2 cup or 45g sun-dried tomatoes
1 tablespoon oil
1 medium onion, peeled and minced
7 oz or 200g feta cheese, crumbled
3 cups or 375g all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground annatto
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
12 oz or 355ml beer – use a lager rather than an ale or bitter
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon oregano, optional

N.B. If, like mine, your can of beer is only 11 oz or 330ml, make up the difference in the volume with the water used to rehydrate the sun-dried tomatoes.

Tip: Making your own sun-dried tomatoes is easy! Check out my simple instructions here: Homemade sun-dried tomatoes.

Method
Divide the sun-dried tomatoes into two equal piles. Chop one into small pieces with a sharp knife. In a small bowl, pour boiling water to cover over the other pile. Set aside to rehydrate. Depending on how dried your tomatoes are, they could take up to an hour to plump back up and you might need to top up with more water.

Use a mortar and pestle or electric spice grinder to make a powder out of it the chopped pile.

Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over medium heat with oil. Sauté the onion for 10-12 minutes, or until it is translucent. Set the pan aside and allow the onion to cool.

When the tomatoes are plump and soft, drain and reserve the soaking water, if you need it for extra liquid. (See ingredient list.) Chop the tomatoes roughly.

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line a standard loaf pan with baking parchment.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, annatto powder and salt. Add the crumbled cheese, cooled onions and chopped sun-dried tomatoes and toss everything together so that the other ingredients are evenly mixed into the flour.

Add the beer and honey to the flour and fold until all ingredients are incorporated and there are no dry bits of flour.

Spoon the thick dough into the prepared bread pan and smooth the top of the dough. Sprinkle on some oregano, if desired.

Bake the loaf for 40-45 minutes, or until the top of the loaf is a golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning the loaf out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Slice and serve. It’s great natural or toasted, plain or embuttered or, since I like to gild the lily, spread with softened cream cheese.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to our host, Mireille from The Schizo Chef for this fun challenge! Check out all the naturally colorful breads we have for you this month!

• Cheesy Kale, Tomato and Chile Focaccia from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Coriander Butterflake Bread from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Coriander Cumin Bread from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Feta Sun-dried Tomato Quick Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Purple Yam Sweet Potato Bread from The Schizo Chef
• Spinach Beetroot Wheat Bread from Anybody Can Bake
• Spinach Sandwich Rolls from Cook's Hideout
• Tangzhong Method Spinach Bread from Sneha's Recipe
• Turmeric & Garlic Pull Apart Bread from Mayuri's Jikoni

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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