Rustic Parsnip Bread #BreadBakers

Mashed parsnips add a sweet earthy flavor to this rustic parsnip bread. Caramelized parsnips on top of the loaf bring a little wow factor, making this a great bread for your holiday table.

This may sound silly to a bunch of you but I didn’t discover parsnips till I was an adult. I remember the first time I saw them in a Sydney market and I assumed they were pale carrots until I read the little sign in front of them. Parsnips. The name helped me not one bit.

But I am adventurous cook and eater so I bought a bunch and took them home. Those were the days before internet but I did have a paperback cookbook from the Australian Women’s Weekly series with traditional Australian recipes to consult. Parsnips could essentially be used anywhere a carrot could. In sweet cakes or savory stews. My favorite way of eating them is roasted in the oven or caramelized in a hot pan. Either way emphasizes their native sweetness.

This rustic parsnip bread features parsnips two ways, mashed in the dough for flavor and moisture and tucked in slits on top for flavor and decoration. This recipe is adapted from Julia Child’s rustic potato bread, which I first made more than fours ago, back when I had just moved to Cairo and found myself in a freezing cold house without a working heater. An ideal time to turn the oven on! Read that post for tips if you are trying to get yeast dough to rise in a cold kitchen.

Ingredients
For the dough:
3/4 lb or 340g firm parsnips
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup or 60ml tepid reserved parsnip water (80 – 90°F or 26.7 – 32.2°C)
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/4 – 2 1/2 cups or 280g – 310g flour

For the optional topping:
1 parsnip about 3 1/2 oz or 100g
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon flakey sea salt

Method
Peel your parsnips for the dough and cut them into cubes. In a small pot, cover the parsnips with water and add 1 teaspoon of the salt.

Cook until they are fork-tender. Reserve 1/4 cup or 60ml of the parsnip water and then drain the parsnips well in a colander.  Pop them back in the pot and mash them with a potato masher while they are still warm, getting them as lump free as possible. Set aside to cool.

When the parsnips are cool, stir the yeast into the parsnip water, warming it again if necessary. It needs to be warm enough to activate the yeast. Leave for about five minutes.

Meanwhile, put your cool mashed parsnips in the mixer and beat briefly to loosen them up.

Add in the olive oil, the yeast/water mixture and the last teaspoon of salt. Mix until the liquids are incorporated into the mashed parsnip.

Change your mixer attachment to the dough hook and start adding in the flour.  This mixture is going to be very dry at the beginning.

Just trust and keep mixing. That said, you may not use quite all the flour. I had a few tablespoons left when I decided that the dough was a good springy texture. Knead for by machine for a few more minutes.

For the first rise, put a bit of cling film on the top of the mixing bowl and allow the dough to rest for 20-30 minutes at room temperature.

To caramelize the last parsnip, peel it and cut it into thin, short pieces.

Drizzle the olive oil in a small non-stick pan and gently fry the parsnip pieces until they are golden on all sides.

Sprinkle in the sugar and keep cooking the parsnips till the sugar has melted and started to brown a little. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Once your first rise is done, roll the dough into a ball and then press out into a round disk.  Starting at the end closest to you, roll the dough into a tube.  When you get to the last turn, make sure the seam side is down and fold the sides under.

Place the roll of dough on a lined baking pan and use a sharp knife to cut slits in the top.  Tuck the caramelized parsnips into the slits. Drizzle any oil left in the pan over the top then sprinkle on some flakey sea salt.

Cover the loaf loosely with cling film and put in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Put a pan in the bottom of the oven about halfway through the preheating process. This pan gets really hot and a little water added just as you put in the loaf creates enough steam for a lovely crust.

When the second rising is done, put the baking pan with the loaf in the oven. Quickly pour a 1/2 cup or 120ml water into the pan at the bottom and close the oven immediately.

Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until the crust is nice and brown and the loaf sounds hollow when thumped.  Check halfway through and rescue any parsnips that have fallen off so they don’t burn on the pan, which would be a terrible waste when you could be eating them. Cover the loaf loosely with foil for the remainder of the baking time if you feel the parsnips or the bread is browning too fast.

If you are so inclined, you can check the internal temperature to see if the rustic parsnip bread is cooked throughout. It should be about 200°F or 93°C. in the middle.

Enjoy!

This month my Bread Bakers are baking breads with root vegetables of all kinds, with thanks to our host Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories. We've got both sweet and savory bakes for you today, so something for everyone!

• Beetroot Bread from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Caramelized Onion Cheddar Bread from Hezzi-D's Cooks and Books
• Caramelized Onion Gouda Casatiello from Hostess at Heart
• Carrot Spiced and Teff Bread from kidsandchic
• Colocasia Root (Taro Root) Flatbread from Mayuri's Jikoni 
• Garlic and Herb Wreath Bread from Herbivore Cucina
• Garlic Cheese Bombs from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Ginger Sweet Rolls from Passion Kneaded
• Korean Onion Bread from Gayathri's Cook Spot
• Potato Dinner Rolls from Cook's Hideout
• Pull Apart Onion Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Rustic Parsnip Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Onion Pockets from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Stuffed Aloo Parathas from Sneha's Recipes
• Sweet Potato Bread from Cindy's Recipes and Writings

#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.

Pin it! 

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Coq au Vin with Cornish Game Hens

Coq au vin is a classic French dish cooked with love, time and wine. The sauce created as the chicken simmers is divine. Try not to drink it straight from the pot with your stirring spoon. 

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, after cooking my little hens, but circumstances intervened and I didn’t post it. If you’ve been reading a while, you know that these game hens are special.

Adapted from Julia Child's Coq au Vin

Coq au Vin is chicken in red wine with small-braised onions, mushrooms, and lardons of pork, which are small slices of smoked bacon. Julia wanted me to blanch my bacon first to get rid of the smoky flavor, but frankly, the reason I love bacon is because of the smoky flavor so I skipped that step. I also changed the onions for shallots and tipped them in the pot after peeling. I do not know what a small-braised onion is but it seemed to me that they would add to the flavor of the whole dish if they were added early instead of using them as a garnish for serving. Oh, and I substituted fresh baby carrots for the mushrooms.  Mushrooms might have added to the sauce but carrots will make this a meal to serve over rice or even mashed potatoes, n’est pas?

Ingredients

1/2 cup lardons (I cut slices of smoked bacon into little pieces. Same thing.)

2 nice plump Cornish game hens, cut in half

2 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 or 2 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced 

1 imported bay leaf

1/4 tsp or so thyme (I used one nice spring of fresh thyme. I scraped off the little leaves and then threw the stem in as well. Why not?)

1 large ripe red unpeeled tomato, chopped (or 1/3 cup canned Italian plum tomatoes)

3 cups young red wine (Zinfandel, Macon or Chianti type) I used Merlot, because that's what I buy.

1 cup chicken stock (or more)

Beurre manie, for the sauce (1 1/2 tbs. each flour softened butter blended to a paste)

Fresh parsley sprigs (or chopped parsley)

1/3 cup good brandy (optional)

8-10 small shallots, peeled and left whole

Small bunch of baby carrots, scrubbed

Method

Before browning the chicken, sauté the bacon and remove to a side dish, leaving the fat in the pan.

Brown the chicken in the pork fat, adding a little olive oil, if needed.

Notice the bacon in the little dish on the side. 

Flame the game hens with the brandy, if you wish -- it does give its own special flavor, besides being fun to do. (Julia was right! That step was very fun but next time I will wait until my able assistant, who was napping, is awake and poised with the camera. I almost dropped it when the flames shot up way higher than I expected.  Also, I felt restrained from shouting the loud WHOOP! this really deserved.) 

Whoooop!

Now add the wine, stock, tomato, herbs, garlic and bacon back in along with a sprinkle of sea salt and  freshly ground black pepper. Close the lid tightly and turn the fire down to simmer. 

Yeah, it looks like a lot of wine, because it is. But it will cook down.

I let this simmer a few minutes while I peeled the shallots and then added them and a knob of butter as well, poking the shallots down into the wine and stock.  I covered the pan again and continued the simmering.

After half an hour of simmering, I turned the little chickadees over.

After an hour of simmering, I skimmed as much fat as I could off the top and then I added the carrots.

After another half an hour, I took flipped the hens upright again and left the lid off to allow the liquid to cook down and skimmed some more fat.

Two total hours into the simmering, it was probably time to finish the dish. Take all the solid things out of the pot with a slotted spoon until you are left with only the liquids. (I took this opportunity to discard all the parsley and thyme stems and the bay leaves.)  If there is still visible fat on the liquid, use a spoon to skim what you can and discard. 

Thicken the sauce by whisking in your beurre manie. 

Allow this to cook for a few minutes to get rid of the floury taste. I wish I could show you how rich and thick and succulent the sauce turned. The photos do not do it justice. Check the seasonings and add salt and pepper if necessary.

Return the game hens to the pot and baste with the sauce. Add the carrots and any other solids that were removed. Simmer for a few minutes, still basting, to rewarm the chicken and to blend flavors.

Okay, this is a terrible photo, but you get the idea. 

Serve over white rice or some creamy mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!