Bread - Spelt, Rye, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Onions and Olives with Caraway and Sesame Seeds

Preparation

Peel and dice the onions and place in a sauce pan or a covered microwaveable baking dish. Add the olive oil and hot red pepper sauce and mix well. Cook until the onions begin to become translucent. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into pieces and set aside. Open the can of ripe olives and pour the liquid into a measuring cup (a two cup measuring cup is best). Measure the amount of liquid. If the olives are whole, slice them in rings, and set aside.

Place the yeast, spelt flour, rye flour, lecithin, molasses, and caraway seeds in your bread mixing bowl. We use our bread maker or countertop mixer for mixing the dough. NOTE: If you grind your own flour, and it is warm, add the yeast after the liquid is added.

Form a bowl-shaped depression in the flour and add the lecithin and the liquid from the can of ripe olives. Mix the dough until all the liquid is absorbed into the flour. Add the onions and sun-dried tomatoes and continue kneading. Add a little water as necessary for proper kneading, but keep the dough on the dry side until the olives are added.

After about 15 minutes of kneading, add about half of the sliced ripe olives and continue kneading for another five minutes. Remove the dough from the mixer and work additional olives in by hand, being careful to keep the olives in rings.

Form the dough into a loaf and cover the entire outside with sesame seeds. Place the loaf on a metal or terra-cotta baking pan, or pizza stone (which we prefer), which has been coated with a dusting of corn meal or flour.

Baking

Let the bread dough rise until loaf is slightly over doubled in size.  We have a warming drawer in which to raise the dough, but any warm moist place will work.

When the loaf has risen, carefully place in a pre-heated oven at 350º F. and bake for approximately 45 minutes. We have found that baking times vary from oven to oven and it is best to adjust the baking time to the characteristics of your oven.

Remove the baked bread from the oven and enjoy. (To enlarge the photo of the cut bread, click on the photo or link)

This bread is great to eat in wedges with a large mixed-green and veggie salad for lunch.