Beetroot, caraway & goat’s cheese bread.

First of all an admission. Under any other circumstances than this recipe, I don’t like beetroot and I certainly wouldn’t expect to find it cropping up here again in a hurry.

For a long time now we’ve subscribed to a regular organic veg box service. Great at the best of times and an absolute godsend during lockdowns. Once a fortnight a nice man leaves a box brimming over with good stuff on our doorstep and it’s a race between us to see who can get there first to check out what he’s brought. There are always potatoes, but beyond that, it varies to whatever is in season and abundance that week. The one problem we have is just how often it includes beetroot.

We tried them baked, we tried them raw in salads, we even turned them into beetroot hummus. But all to no avail, we just didn’t like them. My partner took them to work and tried giving them to colleagues, but there were no takers. Clearly, we weren’t alone in our aversion.

Then, out of the blue, I discovered beetroot bread in an Ottolenghi book. I still wouldn’t want to see them in the veg box too regularly, but this savoury bread recipe has quickly become a big hit and a great way to use them up.

I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit. It’s ideal for home baking as it can be chopped and changed to take into account whatever seeds and cheese you have to hand.

A couple of things are worth mentioning:

• It’s best to cover the bread with tin foil for the second half of the baking as it’s in the oven for a long time, all be it at quite a low temperature for bread baking.
• Go carefully when grating the beetroot. I didn’t the first time I made this bread and finished up with everything in my vicinity stained pink. Now I use a very deep bowl, a small handheld grater and make sure I take my time. No more pink worktops.

Ingredients

• 50g oats
• 10g thyme leaves – chopped
• 50g pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• 100g wholemeal flour
• 100g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 0.25 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 beetroot – peeled and grated
• 2 eggs
• 80ml sunflower oil – any other neutral oil should work
• 80ml milk
• 1 tbsp honey
• 20g parmesan cheese- grated
• 120g soda goat’s cheese – cut into small pieces

Method

• Preheat the oven to Gas 6/ Fan 180. Grease and line the base of a 20x10cm loaf tin.
• Mix the oats, thyme and seeds in a bowl.
• Mix both flours, the baking powder, bicarb and a teaspoon of salt in another bowl. Whisk them together and then add the grated beetroot and all but a tablespoon of the oat and seed mix. 
• In a separate bowl whisk the egg, oil, milk, honey and grated parmesan together. Pour this mix into the bowl with the flour and beetroot and fold together using a spatula. Then add the chopped goat’s cheese and fold it in.
• Pour the mixture into the greased tin and sprinkle the last tablespoon of the oats, thyme and seeds on top.
• Bake for 40 minutes, then cover with tin foil and bake for a further 40 minutes.