Sonja's Wild Garlic Vegetable Bread
Time for foraging...
I have been missing the colourful mix of produce leftover from Conscious Kitchen that I used to fill my fridge with. But there are still ways to get to free food; it is time to re-learn the art of foraging! I’ve come to spend time at my parent’s place in Switzerland during the time that the forests are full of spicy and fresh wild garlic.
I have already had a wonderful wild garlic pesto made by Conscious Kitchen teammate Pascal, so I wanted to try out something else and came to the idea of making a Wild Garlic Vegetable Bread. It is easy, filling, tasty and fresh!
Tip: Wild garlic grows in March in most forests all over Europe. Also in the Haagse Bos of The Hague you should find some (cycle to the end of the forest towards Wassennaar). However, be aware that the younger the leaves, the better they are. You should not pluck wild garlic for consumption anymore after it has started flowering!
Ingredients
Dough:
200g Spelt flour
300g Whole wheat flour
Yeast, dry or fresh, for 500g flour
3 tbls Olive oil
1 tsp Brown sugar
1 tsp Salt
300ml Water, lukewarm
Filling:
Vegetables (eg. 2 carrots, 1 courgette, 1 bell pepper)
1 Onion
6 Sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbls Oil (from the sun-dried tomatoes)
Herbs
Wild garlic
Salt and pepper according to taste
The Method
Mix all the dough ingredients in a big bowl, knead until the dough is smooth.
Cover dough and let it rest in a warm place for around 50 minutes, until it has risen double in size.
In the meantime, cut the vegetables and herbs for the filling.
Steam the vegetables and the sun-dried tomatoes for 5 minutes, with the lid on the pan. Add the herbs and wild garlic afterwards. Season according to taste.
Preheat the oven to 220°C.
Knead the dough and roll it out on a flour-covered surface to a rectangle of around 40x50 cm. Spread the vegetable mixture onto the dough, leaving around 5 cm space towards the edged. Roll the dough either on the short or the long side. If you roll it from the shorter side, you will get the shape that I have made. If you roll it on the long side, you will get a nice long sausage and you can also join the ends and make a bread circle.
Put in the preheated oven, setting the temperature at 200°C. Bake for 30-40 minutes. You can check if your bread is ready by tapping on the bottom side of your bread. It should sound hollow.
Serve with a nice soup or a spread like hummus. :)
