Christ is risen!
Summer is here, which means tomatoes are making an appearance and beginning to be in abundance. I am not a raw tomato person per se, except I don’t mind the occasional pasta all pomodoro, salsa, and ketchup. It’s odd that I am okay with cooked tomatoes but raw gives me nausea by the smell. Since I was a very young girl, the smell of raw tomato slices would make me gag, even the ones we grew at home. Recently, I have been told that I should avoid having tomatoes amongst other acidic foods so luckily that’s easy… until I came across this recipe. Temptation of the sourdough. Firstly, I love sourdough, especially homemade. Attending my university days at USF, I was spoiled with amazing sourdoughs at the Sourdough factory in Fisherman’s Wharf. I used to have this amazing clam chowder in sourdough bread there on autumn like days; it was great hygge food that felt nourishing as well. I no longer have clam chowder but good sourdough is amazing sourdough nevertheless. A good smear of plant based butter on sourdough slice, add some cucumbers (or tomatoes for those of you who like it) and top it off with salt and pepper is a wonderful snack for me. Thanks to Donna Klein, the original author of this recipe, the recipe looks super easy to make so I decided to give it a try. I will try one or two bites and let my family and friends enjoy the rest. Thank goodness bread is allowed in my diet! I can live without tomatoes for 3 months but not bread.
After trying this recipe, I see myself making this time and time again! I am going to experiment with other fruits and vegetables that work well this recipe in the meantime while I am on a tomato 3 month hiatus. This is a seriously good recipe. I think I am going to add plant based cheese at that last 15 minute mark. I bet that would really taste good. I’ll update you all when I make it and how it came out!
Tips on Sun Dried Tomatoes
Thanks to my handy dandy (cook) notebook, a.k.a The Vegetarian Bible by Karen Page, you can get really creative with this dish. The Vegetarian Bible has great information on vegetables, their seasons, their nutritional profile, flavor affinities etc. If you don’t have it, I highly recommend going out to get one! Your cooking skills will greatly improve with these simple tips and tricks Karen provides. Here are some tips from Karen I think would be really helpful for those who want to take this recipe to another level.
Flavor: saltly/slightly sweet, with intense tomato notes, and a chewy texture
Volume: loud – very loud
Tip: To soften, soak in boiling water for 60 seconds before draining and cooling.
If you would like to make this bread with a more complex flavor profile, foods such as: almonds, artichokes, arugula, basil, capers, cheese, garlic, kale, lemon and lime, olives, onions, oregano, parsley, pesto, pine nuts, rosemary, scallions, shallots, spinach, and thyme would be great to add to this bread. It takes a bit of creativity, which is the fun part about this bread! Feel free to experiment.
Some Flavor affinities to help you start:
sun dried tomatoes + artichokes + feta
sun dried tomatoes + basil + garlic + olive oil
sun dried tomatoes + basil + herbs (rosemary, thyme) + olive oil
sun dried tomatoes + capers + garlic + goat cheese + oregano
sun dried tomatoes + goat cheese + pesto + pine nuts
sun dried tomatoes + olive oil + oregano + red onions
Donna Klein’s Notes: Sourdough starters are nurtured like children — some for years — on the Mediterranean. If you don’t tell, no one will ever know that the American trick to turning out in a mere 45 minutes this delicious sourdough like bread, redolent of marinated sun dried tomatoes, is a can of cold beer, and some baking powder.
Smacznego! Bon Appétit!
Makes 1 loaf 12 Slices
Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour, preferably unbleached
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp plus 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 (12 oz) can cold beer
1/4 cup well drained marinated sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped, plus 2 tbsp oil reserved from the tomatoes
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C). Lightly oil a 9 x 5 inch 5 loaf pan and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder. With a large spoon, stir in the beer and tomatoes; mix until thoroughly blended. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the bread from the oven. Using a thin sharp-tipped knife, make several deep incisions to within 1 inch from the bottom of the bread. Slowly brush the reserved marinade oil evenly over the top of the bread. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned.
- Let the bread stand in the pan for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature, preferably within 12 hours of baking for best results. The cooled bread can be placed in a freezer bag and frozen for up to 1 month.
Note from me: I did not have sun dried tomatoes in a marinade on hand so I made it from scratch. It is really easy. I simply followed Karen’s direction (see notes above in Tips section), then added thinly sliced garlic, used a pinch of salt and each of the Greek thyme and Greek oregano, and gently cooked it on a very low simmer for 10 – 20 minute, occasionally stirring. Greek herbal versions of thyme and oregano, for instance, have a stronger flavor profile than the other types of thyme and oregano so use with caution! ⚠️ Small amounts go a very long way. The cooking time for me was about 10 minutes in my Le Creuset pot, moved it off heat and let it cool until handle. I let the marinade sit for a few hours because I have the time (if you don’t have time, at least let the tomatoes cool down before continuing on with the recipe) and I want that deep rich marinade to come out in my bread. I don’t like bland food, I like food with a real oomf of flavor. I like that intense burn in my nose from wasabi, flavor packed foods you didn’t expect to create fireworks in your mouth-kinda flavor foods. And you can do that with a very simple yet sophisticated method by letting the sun dried tomato marinade sit for a few hours and rest. It did all the hard work already, growing into beautiful tomatoes. 😉 🍅 I want to be transported to Italy first class by my taste buds with that first bite of the bread.
Nutritional benefits
Per slice: Calories 163 | Protein: 3g | Total Fat 3g | Saturated Fat 0g | Cholesterol 0mg | Carbohydrate 29g | Dietary Fiber 1g | Sodium 122 mg
Tomatoes
79% Carbs
12% Protein
9% fats
Calories: 35 per 1 cup serving (chopped, raw)
Protein: 2g
Very cooling thermal nature; sweet and sour flavor; builds the yin fluids and relieves dryness and thirst; tonifies the stomach and cleans the liver; good dietary option for heart and artery renewal (removes residues of fat and cholesterol); calcium rich; purifies the blood and detoxifies the body in general encourages digestion and so is used in cases of diminished appetite, indigestion, food retention, anorexia, and constipation. Good acid choice to help break down fats and protein chains for making meat preparation dishes.
Tomato’s sour flavor benefits and relieves liver heat and accompanying symptoms such as high blood pressure, red eyes, and a headache. Tomatoes are detoxifying and resolve food stagnation resulting from low stomach-acid secretion. To treat areas of stagnant blood in the body, tomato can be used as a food and as an external pack of the raw finely sliced fruit on the stagnant site.
Even though an acidic fruit, after digestion the tomato alkalizes the blood and so is useful in reducing the acid blood of rheumatism and gout. However, avoid excuse consumption of tomatoes; eat them in moderation is what Paul Pitchford suggests for those who have rheumatism.
Vine ripened tomatoes are best; green-picked tomatoes that are later ripened can weaken the kidney-adrenal function.
Cautions: Tomato upsets calcium metabolism; tomatoes contain the calcium inhibitor solanine. Tomatoes should be avoided in cases of arthritis. Large amounts of tomatoes are weakening for everyone.
Dosage: 1 -2 tomatoes twice daily.
| TOMATOES,SUN-DRIED | |
|---|---|
| Serving: 1 piece Water: 14.56 grams Calories: 258 Total Lipids: 2.97 grams Protein: 14.11 grams Carbohydrates: 55.76 grams Total Sugar: 37.59 grams Saturated Fat: 0.426 grams Monounsaturated Fat: 0.487 grams Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.115 grams Cholesterol: 0 mg Fiber: 12.3 grams Lycopene: 40772 mcg Alpha Carotene: 0 mcg Beta Carotene: 524 mcg Retinol: 0 mcg Calcium: 110 mg Iron: 9.09 mg | Magnesium: 194 mg Phosphorus: 356 mg Potassium: 3427 mg Selenium: 5.5 mcg Sodium: 2095 mg Zinc: 1.99 mg Vitamin A IU: 874 Vitamin A RAE: 44 Vitamin B5 Pantothenic Acid: 2.087 mg Vitamin B6: 0.332 mg Vitamin C: 39.2 mg Vitamin E: 0.01 mg Thiamin: 0.528 mg Riboflavin: 0.489 mg Niacin: 9.05 mg Vitamin K: 43 mcg Folate: 68 mcg Folic Acid: 0 mcg |
| TOMATOES,SUN-DRIED,PACKED IN OIL,DRND | |
|---|---|
| Serving: 1 piece Water: 53.83 grams Calories: 213 Total Lipids: 14.08 grams Protein: 5.06 grams Carbohydrates: 23.33 grams Total Sugar: grams Saturated Fat: 1.893 grams Monounsaturated Fat: 8.663 grams Polyunsaturated Fat: 2.06 grams Cholesterol: 0 mg Fiber: 5.8 grams Lycopene: mcg Alpha Carotene: mcg Beta Carotene: mcg Retinol: 0 mcg Calcium: 47 mg Iron: 2.68 mg | Magnesium: 81 mg Phosphorus: 139 mg Potassium: 1565 mg Selenium: 3 mcg Sodium: 266 mg Zinc: 0.78 mg Vitamin A IU: 1286 Vitamin A RAE: 64 Vitamin B5 Pantothenic Acid: 0.479 mg Vitamin B6: 0.319 mg Vitamin C: 101.8 mg Vitamin E: mg Thiamin: 0.193 mg Riboflavin: 0.383 mg Niacin: 3.63 mg Vitamin K: mcg Folate: 23 mcg Folic Acid: 0 mcg |
Sources
“The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen: Meat free, Egg free, Dairy free Dishes from the Healthiest Region Under the Sun” by Donna Klein
“The Vegetarian Flavor Bible” by Karen Page | Photographs by Andrew Dornenburg
“Healing with Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition” by Paul Pitchford
http://orthomolecular.org/cgi-bin/csvsearch3.pl?Food=tomato Nutrition on Tomato
Anastasia's Peaceful Kitchen 