Beetroot, Caraway & Goat Cheese Bread – Ottolenghi

It is time for you to get used to see Ottolenghi recipes on this page – I simply love everything in his cookbooks. This delicious cake-like beetroot, caraway & goat cheese bread is from his book “Simple”, which has been a very good friend of ours during lockdown. The book helped us to come up with lunch and dinner ideas that are healthy, delicious and simple to make.

I have been planning to bake this bread for a very long time, but I could not find raw beetroots anywhere during the summer. I love beetroot in any shape or form, so I was delighted to see this recipe in the book. It is simple and relatively quick to make, (most of) the ingredients can be found in any grocery store and will be a delicious item for breakfast, lunch or dinner for a couple of days.

We spread a little bit of Irish salted butter on top and added a slice of brie. A delicious savory breakfast with a cup of hot coffee!

Ingredients:

• 50g rolled oats
• 10g thyme leaves, finely chopped
• 50g pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• 2 tsp nigella seeds
• 100g plain flour
• 100g wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 raw beetroots, peeled and finely grated (200g)
• 2 large eggs
• 80ml olive oil, plus 1 tbsp extra for greasing
• 80g sour cream
• 1 tbsp honey
• 20g grated Parmesan
• 120g creamy goat’s cheese, broken into small pieces
• salt

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 180C (fan). Grease the loaf tin.
• In a small bowl, mix together the oat, pumpkin seeds, thyme, caraway and nigella seeds, and set it aside.
• Mix the two type of flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and 1 tsp salt in a separate bowl.
• Add all but 1 tbsp of the oat and seeds mix to the flour mix, and also add the grated beetroot. Do not stir it, just set it aside.
• In separate larger bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, soured cream, honey and the parmesan.
• Pour over the flour and beetroot mixture, and use a spatula to mix it until well combined.
• Add the goat cheese and carefully fold through to make sure not to break the pieces too much.
• Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and sprinkle over the remaining oat and seeds mix.
• Bake for 40 minutes, then cover tightly with foil, and bake it for another 40 minutes.
• A skewer inserted into the middle will not come out completely clean, but it should not be too wet. The exterior will be quite crisp and dark. Cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

Tips and notes:

• Unfortunately, I could not find nigella seeds in the grocery store, so had to prepare it without.
• I used olive oil instead of sunflower oil.
• I used dried thyme, but will definitely use fresh next time.
• Once baked, you can keep it in an airtight container for a week, or in the freezer for up to 1 month

Enjoy and until next time,

Nora from My Honeycomb Kitchen