Saturday, March 3, 2012

Spinach Feta Quick Bread with Sweet Pepper and Olive Salad

This entire meal comes together in less than 20 minutes!

Serve as is for a light lunch or dinner, or add grilled salmon or broiled marinated chicken thighs for a more filling meal.

This herbed bread is like a cross between a biscuit and focaccia bread. It's one of the easiest quick breads I've made and it can be packed with any number of flavors. I paired mine with a salad that I made up on a whim- I have found that throughout the day the salad has gotten better. If possible, make it an hour ahead! That will give the onions and peppers time to pickle in their vinaigrette.

I'm pretty excited to have come up with this bread recipe! I know I will use it a lot. You can switch out your additives such as fruit and nuts, cheese and bacon bits. Just keep in mind the dough doesn't like to be too wet and it only bakes for 10 minutes or so (so shred things finely and don't over do it).



I brushed mine with olive oil and sprinkled salt, pepper and dried oregano. You can use any type of oil with bits of fresh herbs or use sweet additives with melted butter and cinnamon sugar. It's a great recipe to play with!

Spinach Feta Quick Bread

2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely shredded baby spinach (fresh, about 20 leaves)
1/8 cup finely chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup olive oil plus more for brushing
Salt, pepper, oregano and red pepper flakes for topping

Preheat your oven to 450F and grease a sheet pan.

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl, with a big spoon. The dough will be a dry shaggy mass and is ready when you've picked up the flour from the bottom and sides. Don't over mix, but it's pretty dry so you'll have to work it for a minute.

With floured hands, move the dough to your greased pan and press it out flat with your hands until it's a little over a half inch thick. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with a generous amount of salt, pepper, dried oregano and red pepper flakes (I went a little light on my sprinkles and regretted it).

Bake for 10 to 13 minutes until it's golden on top. Cut into squares when hot and serve with a dish of balsamic vinegar and olive oil with cracked black pepper for dipping.

(To make the salad, roughly: red onion and bell peppers sliced, good pitted olives halved or quartered, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, pinch of salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and dried herbs, generous drizzle of olive oil. Let sit at least 10 minutes but preferably an hour or so.)

Hope you like it! Enjoy your day!

1 comment:

  1. Made this today and it was amazing :-) I didn't have the fillings you used so I subbed a chopped defrosted artichoke bottom, a fistful each of rocket and parsley, with a good grating of parmesan and 2 heaped teaspoons of pesto. I topped it with a healthy amount of crushed garlic and olive oil. The texture was perfect (and flavours were superb), and for sooo little effort! Will definitely be making again - my head is buzzing with other filling ideas. Thank you for the recipe :-)

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