Over the last few weeks, I have been experimenting with different bread recipes. I have been combining different types of flour, different seed combinations, finding interesting ways to flavour the crust.. it has been a lot of fun. Last week, I made a Paul Hollywood inspired sun dried tomato and black olive bread (I intend to get this published on Love the kitchen in due course), today I wanted to focus on just tomato.
Not only did I want to work on texture, I was also very keen to adapt the colour. This was destined to be a tomato-flavoured bread, it was fitting to to try and get a natural colour to the dough, without the use of artificial food colouring. Knowing how well tomato goes with oregano in many pizza recipes, I decided to sprinkle a small amount on the crust as a finishing touch. The end result is a far from snappy titled Sun-dried tomato bread with oregano and sea salt crust.
If interested, sun-dried tomatoes (as the name implies) are tomatoes which have lost most of their water content due to being dried in the sun. You need very few for this recipe, and if concerned by the price, consider that it takes between 8 – 14 kilos to make just 1 kilo in its dried form. I buy them dry-packed – you may also find this in oil, and other ingredients and herbs may be added.
Sun dried tomato bread with an oregano and sea salt crust.
Ingredients
- 500 g Strong White Flour
- 7 g fast action yeast
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 275 ml warm water
- 3 x tbsp tomato purée or sun-dried tomato paste for a stronger flavour
- 3 x tbsp olive oil
- 50 g 2oz sun-dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips
- coarse sea salt such as Gros Sel de Guérande
- 1 x tsp dried oregano and extra to sprinkle on the crust
Instructions
- Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, yeast, salt, dried oregano and sugar)in a large mixing bowl, and mix thoroughly using a bell whisk. Personally, I find this works far more effectively than using a spoon.
- Measure out 3 tbsp tomato purée/ sun-dried tomato paste into a measuring jug, then add hot (from the tap) water to the 275ml line. Mix well using a mini-whisk. Next, add 3 tbsp of olive oil to the mixture and stir thoroughly. It may not look too appealing, but this has no bearing on the final outcome.
- Next, create a well in the middle of the mixture and slowly pour about one-third of the liquid. Using a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, start to fold the dry ingredients into the liquid. Then, gradually add the liquid, and keep folding together until a dough ball is formed. The colour will change to a light terracotta/salmon colour due to the tomato purée. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl, and knead for 5 minutes or so until the texture is no longer sticky, yet still elastic. You may need to sprinkle additional flour during this process, so keep some at hand.
- Oil the same mixing bowl (saves washing up) with a small amount of olive oil, then return kneaded dough ball, cover with a tea towel or cling film for 1 hour, and allow to rise.
- The dough should have doubled in size (maybe a little more). Remove the dough and flatten. Then, start to sprinkle the thin slices of sun-dried tomatoes (I try to keep as much space between the sliced for a more even distribution in the loaf itself). Fold the dough towards the middle, flatten again, then keep repeating until all the sun-dried tomatoes have been used up. Knead the dough ball for a couple of minutes, then mould into an oval shape and place on a baking tray. (Tip: I use a silicone non-stick baking sheet to line a baking tray and have been very happy with with the results).
- Cover again with a tea towel, and allow to rise prove for a further hour.
- Preheat the oven to 200C. Optionally, and to maintain a softer crust, pour 2 x cups of water into a tall-sided baking tray and put this in the bottom of the oven. As the oven heats up, as will the water. The purpose is to create a gentle steam, which in turn will result in a softer crust.
- Uncover the loaf, and score the top using a sharp blade into diagonal lines, about 2-3cm apart. Gently brush or spray olive oil over the top. Then, sprinkle on top a combination of sea salt (my favourite is Gros Sel de Guérande) - a natural coarse grey sea salt) dried oregano, and gently press them into the top of the dough with the palm of your hand.
- Bake in the oven for 30 mins. Once cooked, tun onto a wire rack and allow to cool. If you want to maintain an even softer crust, cover with a tea towel whilst the loaf cools down.
- Enjoy. Great on its own, or why not try with home-made Chickpea hummus?
And here’s one Kayleigh made earlier…
Every so often, I get positive feedback from people around the world who have found one of my recipes, adapted it, and put their own individual spin on it. It turns out Kayleigh from Sheffield, almost a ‘neighbour’ in the scheme of things… is a passionate home baker and do checkout her facebook page.
The cake decoration skills really put me to shame…. Kayleigh has to be a contender for the next Great British Bakeoff!.
As nearly every recipe I do is usually experimental to begin with, I really welcome hearing about new ideas and variations for me to try in the future. The pictures below are Kayleigh’s adaptation including cheese and Jalapeno peppers. I cannot wait to try it myself!.
must try this! i love to bake and the recipe looks easy to follow & with great pictures so i can see where i went wrong 😉
I love of good bread.
See if your rating is working
Dan
A great recipe, and it has to be the best bread that I’ve made to date! Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe.
Really easy to make and very tasty loaf!!!!!
Hi Nina, I am really glad you liked it. I certainly do try with slightly more unique bread recipes – these can be found: https://www.lovethekitchen.co.uk/recipes/bread-nibbles/bread/
Thanks for the positive feedback, and feel free to share with any friends.
I’d at least halve the salt content when mixing dry ingredients, as my loaf seemed to take salt from the tomatoes and came out a bit on the Dead Sea Scrolls side . . . . . that said, the recipe worked brilliantly to make a big, light, well-flavoured loaf.
Great. I am glad the recipe worked our well for you.
Fair point on the salt front too. Omitting the salt from the crust too may make the difference you are looking for. ;o)
I made this today. i followed the recipe exactly but the middle bit was uncooked. Not sure why that happened
Dear Kiranjeet,
thank you for your comment and very sorry to hear that it did not work out for you.
Will all my recipes, I will have made them two or three times prior to publishing. Sadly, ovens do vary quite significantly.
I have a NEFF electric fan assisted oven which is very good at sustaining a consistent temperature. I must have baked 50 + loaves without fail.
However, about three months ago I made a loaf in a friend’s oven – one they hardly use- and I ended up having to cook for an additional 20 mins. the temperature was set at exactly the same as mine, also had a fan, but really did not bake at all well.
Can this be adapted to an overnight recipe by decreasing the amount of yeast? Thanks
Hi Thelma. Would you be able to elaborate on what you are trying to achieve? Is this to have a delayed fermentation so that you can have an early bake in the morning? All best. R
I love this! It rose really well and had a beautiful orangey colour and great crust (I didn’t steam it). It did need a bit more than half an hour since mine was a little dense but I think my oven is to blame for that. Thanks for posting!
Hi Collete – I am so glad it worked out for you. Thanks too for mentioning that the longer time was required – I will certainly need to edit the baking time and take into account that all ovens do vary.
Would it be OK to just double the ingredients if I wanted to make 2 loaves? Or would I need to make them separately? Sorry if this is a silly question, I’m totally new to making bread ?
Hi Christie, many thanks for your comment.
You can absolutely double the ingredients when making this recipe. However, I think it is worth making a single loaf first, just to get used to the process of totally new to bread making.
There are are number of variables which will be impact the success of a bread…temperature during the proofing, the oven itself, the ingredients and so forth. If you want to dry double quantity to make 2 loaves, then you will need to divide the dough after step 4 and the first hour rise. Let me know how it goes!
The best bread I have ever made my family can’t get enough of it, can I add olives or other ingredients to this recipe thanks Kay.
Hi Kay, I am delighted to hear that my bread recipe has become a firm family favourite. It is comments such as yours which makes my contribution to Love the kitchen all the more meaningful. Regarding adding olives.. absolutely… however I would recommend slicing and drying first with kitchen towel. Let me know how you get on, and I’d love to see any pictures of what you have made.
Added more sundried tomatoes but very good recipe overall. Also added some of my homegrown tomato passata which gave it a special taste. Also used 350g unbleached and 150g wholemeal bread flours to make the dough a little stronger. Turned out super delicious, thanks for sharing. Beautiful texture and crumb. Especially good as accompaniment for soups.
Hello there. thank you for your kind words and delighted to see how you have adapted this. I am sure the homegrown tomato passata makes all the difference. Next time you make this recipe, I’d love to see a photo and put it on my blog. all best. Richard.
Would you be able to make rolls with this recipe?
Was thinking to divide mix into 12, and cook for 15 mins.
Hi Lee – tihs is a great question. In reality, I have never thought of making rolls but by view is, why not?
I would estimate that they would take around 20 mins in the often – all depending of course on the oven you have at home. I would take out one, pop a shewer or sharp point in a roll, and if it comes out dry, reckon that they are fine.
Do let me know how you get on. All best.
Any chance this would work with dried yeast ? Was just going to make it for a trip tomorrow morning and realised the recipe called for instant yeast ðŸ˜
I am so sorry I missed this, Gabriele.
This was made with dried yeast as opposed to fresh or sourdough. In the UK, I use Allinson Easy Bake Yeast: https://www.allinsonflour.co.uk/products/easy-bake-yeast
I love this bread, make it often and it always turns out great, its amazing with Spanish stews
Hi Johan, so happy thisrecipe has worked out for you and what a great idea to make this with a Spanish Stew.
I will defintiely have to give this a go!
I love sundried tomato bread and made this for the first time! However, my bread crust became really hard despite the additional water underneath. It might be due to me baking half of it’s portion with the same timing of 30mins at 200c. Do you have any suggestion to make the bread crust less hard? Thank you!
Hi Evan,
Can you confirm what oven you have – electric, electric fan-assisted, or gas? Sadly all ovens can vary quite significantly. Can I ask, was it just the crust which was hard, or inside the loaf too?
I remember making a bread at a friend’s house last year – I had to bake for an additional 15 minutes to achieve the same results.
I have never made a half sized loaf and could well explain why it is hard. I fully appreciate that during these challenging times sourcing flour can be very difficulty- if you do have the opportunity to make a full-sized loaf and try again, please do let me know the outcome. I forgot to add, it will freeze very well – you can cut the loaf in half and freeze the rest. I use a vacuum sealer – it is perfect to prevent freezer burn or deposits of ice crystals on top.
thanks.
R
Every sunday during quarantine I have a virtual bake off with friends. Yesterday was flavoured bread, and after searching for ages I found this recipe. It was beyond delicious! the smell the taste, I added in black olives and parmesan and was just a match made in heaven! super simple recipe, and easy to follow! Thank you!
Hi Abigail,
Many thanks for your comment. I love the idea of a virtual bake-off. Great idea.I am always delighted to hear that one of my favourite recipes worked out for you, and what a great addition to add olives and parmesan.
My wife’s absolute favourite is onion, red chilli and black olive – https://www.lovethekitchen.co.uk/onion-red-chilli-black-olive-bread/
Could this be another variation to try, with your very onw spin?
All best,
Richard
Thank you for an amazing recipe you can adapt it so much to different flavours I added jalapeños and cheese and also sun-dried tomatoes and rosemary (I didn’t add the tomato paste) I made a paprika paste all of it was delicious!! I’d add a photo but no idea how to!
Hi Kayleigh, I am so glad you liked it. What a great addition s you mentioned. Feel free to send me a photo to [email protected] and, with your permission I will add it to page. Would be great if you could add a little about where you are from etc…but no pressure. Thanks again for your kinds words and glad the recipe worked out for you! Take care. R
Hi Richard – thank you for sharing this great recipe which I made yesterday. I used to buy a lovely Mediterranean loaf from the local Co-op which they stopped selling, sadly (due to the pandemic) but this is a fantastic substitute! I shall definitely be making it again.
In terms of my own experience (for other comment readers), I found I needed a bit more liquid than the recipe stated to bring it to a dough. I also used double the quantity of sun dried tomatoes for personal taste.
I found the top crust was quite hard and slightly over-browned with a couple of blackened sun dried tomatoes and I was wondering if the 200 degrees centigrade oven temperature was fan assisted or not? My oven is Siemens electric fan assisted and I wonder if I should’ve had it on 180? Scrub that, I see you have a Neff fan assisted oven. What should I do to stop it over cooking the top – cover it in foil for the last X minutes? I had a tray with water in the oven during cooking also.
Hi Nicci. Many thanks for your detailed comment. always greatly appreciated. Thanks for pointing out that the ratio of water to flour was not quite enough.. different scales and measures can product slightly different results too.. if that was the reason.
Getting exact timings right with ovens is a bit of a challenge… and everyone I have cooked in does produce different results. Just to check, where in the oven did you bake the bread. I always use the second to lowest shelf… as heat rises, the hottest zone will be at the top. It will be a little trail and error, but if you are finding that it is burnt at the top I would try a lower temperature as you suggested. Either that, or cook for less time? It might be worth trying a temperature probe as described: https://www.cooksillustrated.com/how_tos/5719-testing-bread-for-doneness. Please do let me know how you get on!
Hello again Richard and thank you very much for your reply. I am also using the second to lowest shelf in my oven, so it’s not that! I made another loaf today and cooked it at 180 instead of 200 and it looks a better colour externally. Slightly different recipe as I added sun-dried tomato paste, sun-dried tomatoes, chargrilled peppers and roasted garlic. I haven’t tried it yet so I do hope it’s not raw in the middle. I think it’s going to be a case of trial and error, like you say! Have you tried adding feta ever? I quite fancied trying a bread recipe with feta as one of the ingredients…
Hi Nicci. Thanks for your comment. In terms of the difference between ovens (which all claim to be fan and offer the same temperature) – I have seen a lot of variation too. I remember baking a loaf using a friend’s oven at their place, it ended up taking 15 minutes longer than my own. How did yours turn out in the end?
I have never tried feta cheese in a loaf..but why not? I think experimenting is what I love most about cooking..get the basic foundations right: the dough, the timing, and control the environment as best as possible (temperature throughout plays a key role) and then get creative. Do let me know how you get on…
Oh WOW!!!! I’d been looking for something like this. I grow my own tomatoes and added my own passata, wheatgerm and unprocessed bran,half cup wholemeal flour, 125g sundried tomatoes. Also omitted the sugar and used some basil. This is a great loaf of bread. Especially with minestrone, or eggplant stew or any pasta dish. Superb!!!! We couldn’t stop eating it as it had such a great flavour.
Thanks so much for sharing, Malou. You have certain taken a recipe and given it your very own adaptation.wouls be great if you could share the complete recipe and I will certainly give it a go! I have only recently started to make the sourdough version of this and will publish when time. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Rea, thank you so much for giving this ago and the positive feedback.
My latest bread adventure is Sourdough – it will take a fair amount of time to write up that recipe, but no where near as long as it took to get my starter working.
Glad you liked in – I think the Sun-dried tomato bread with oregano and sea salt crust is rapidly becoming my most popular of all from Love the Kitchen.