Dal Bread is what you get when you put leftover dal into basic white bread dough. In this case, it's a big, soft, firm, sandwich bread with color and flavor from the spices in the dal. This bread is so good with sandwiches, served as garlic bread or made into spicy chaat masala croutons. I'm sure there are tons of other great uses as well.
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Mashed Lentils In Bread Dough
The idea was sparked by something I read about mashed lentils being used in bread dough for protein. I thought about our leftover dal in the refrigerator and how it had thickened to the consistency of mashed potatoes. Why not add dal to bread dough? And so I used my sweet potato sandwich bread recipe but with 160 grams of leftover Priya's Dal. Here's a picture showing the consistency. Normally I'd thin it with more broth, spice it up and serve it again, but this time I brought it to room temperature and just put it right in the mixing bowl with the other bread ingredients.
The dough was firm, soft, and yellow and so easy to work for. It rose like a champ in the deep loaf pan. The little dots you see are whole cumin seeds which were part of the chonk. Chonk is the mixture of oil and spices you throw into dal at the end, but by this time it had settled into the dal adding some richness. The bread only needed 1 tablespoon of oil extra, and coconut oil worked perfectly. I used unrefined thinking maybe a little tiny bit of coconut flavor might be nice here too.
Dal Bread Flavor and Texture
My dal was extremely spicy due to my husband's high tolerance for heat, but in the bread the spiciness calmed down into a pleasant warmth that even I could handle. So not too spicy hot, but definitely flavorful. And the turmeric gives the bread a beautiful gold color. I've only made this once so far, but the dough was really just a re-work of my sweet potato sandwich bread which I've made many times. I can't wait to try this again with another batch of dal.
Recipe
Dal Bread
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups King Arthur bread flour (390 grams) or all-purpose
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 2 ¼ teaspoons quick rising yeast (SAF yellow label)
- 1 tablespoon dry milk powder (Bob's Red Mill)
- 1 large egg, room temperature (warmish) (50 grams)
- ⅔ cup thick leftover dal, warmed slightly (160 grams)**
- ½ cup water (125 to 130 degrees) plus a tiny splash more as needed
- 1 tablespoon melted or very soft coconut oil
Instructions
- Mix 390 grams of bread flour (which should be around 2 ¾ cup), sugar, salt, yeast and milk powder in a bowl and set aside.
- Put the warmed dal and egg in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix them together with paddle attachment. Remove mixer from stand. Dump in the flour mixture. then pour the 4 oz of the warm water over the flour mixture. Return to mixer stand and using the paddle attachment, begin stirring everything together.
- As the paddle is stirring, add the coconut oil. The batter should turn to a thick, clumpy, Play-Doh like consistency. The paddle won't be able to handle it very well since it's so thick, so you'll need to switch to the dough hook. At this point you could also probably knead by hand (if you don't have a dough hook).
- Switch to the dough hook and knead until dough become more cohesive. It should cling to the hook and be thick, but kind of lumpy. If it is not clinging to the hook, but sticking to the side of the bowl, scrape it into the center of the bowl and dust sides of bowl with 1 tablespoon of extra flour. Begin kneading again. Continue adding flour 1 tablespoon at a time and kneading until the dough clings to the hook and sticks just to the bottom of the bowl. Again, the extra flour should not be necessary if you used the amounts given and your dough is sticky.
- Put the dough in a greased bowl and roll it around so it's just a little bit slick. It should hold the ball shape and not spread at all this point. Cover with greased plastic wrap and set in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled.
- Shape into a loaf and set in a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan or a Pullman pan or deep loaf pan (4 inch sides).
- Cover the pan with a piece of greased plastic wrap and let rise until it comes up an inch or so over the pan, about 35-45 minutes. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Bake at 400 degrees F for the first 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F.
- Bake at 350 for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until its crust is a deep golden brown, and a digital thermometer inserted into the center registers about 200°F.
- Remove the bread from the oven and set the loaf pan on a rack to cool for about 5 minutes. Turn it out onto the rack to cool. Let cool completely before slicing (if you can!). It's also easier to slice while cold.
Sue says
That’s a beautiful loaf of bread!