White Bean White Bread
Two years ago I baked a couple loves of white bread using Julia Child’s recipe. They were nothing particularly special as far as breads go – the kind with the not-too-crusty crust that’s shaped like a caricature of toast when sliced. Soon after I made a peanut butter and jam sandwich on the aforementioned bread to pack in a school lunch (no allergies!), and it has since become referred to by W as My Favourite Bread. He asks for it by name, with butter or peanut butter or poached eggs or as a sandwich, and always quietly smiles when I have a loaf of it, or he sees me making a batch. But at one point I started to feel guilty for doling out so many thick slices of white bread, and figured I’d best inject some nutrition into it. In the form of pureed white beans, of course. They’re starchy, thick and have very little flavour on their own – they literally blend right in.
I’m a fan of grainy breads – as a kid, it was whole wheat or nothing, preferably thin, square slices of dark bio bread that were so loaded with whole grains and seeds they practically crumbled when you took one out of the bag. (I asked for Wonder Bread for my birthday one year, and actually got it.)
I get the appeal of white bread, unfettered by tweedy grains, and I can empathize with W’s love for white bread sandwiches. And yet – there’s no reason white bread should consist of little more than white flour and yeast. I’ve done plenty of baking with pureed white beans in the past – they boost fibre as well as protein – and so I whizzed up a can to add to the dough, and hey! They blend right in – a sleuthy nutritional boost to his PB & J and morning toast. I am the bean ninja.
White Bean White Bread
White Bean White Bread
AuthorJuliePour 1/2 cup of the water into a bowl and sprinkle over the sugar and yeast; let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy. (If the yeast doesn’t do anything, toss it out and buy fresh yeast.)
In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the beans with the remaining 1 1/2 cups water until as smooth as you can get it. Add to the yeast mixture along with about half of the flour. Stir until well blended. Add the rest of the flour, the salt and butter and stir with the dough hook (or by hand) until well combined and shaggy. Continue to knead (I let the dough hook go for about 8 minutes, poking it down once in awhile) until it’s smooth and elastic. You could do this by hand, too. If you used the dough hook, turn the dough out onto the countertop and knead a few times to make sure it’s evenly smooth. Doesn’t it feel great?
Shape it into a ball and put it back into the bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let it sit for 1 – 1 1/2 hours, until it’s doubled in size.
Butter two loaf pans. Punch the dough down and pat each piece into a rectangle that’s about – or a bit bigger than a standard piece of paper.
Starting at a short end, fold it in thirds, like a letter. Place seam side down in the loaf pans, tucking the ends in. Cover with the tea towel again and leave them for an hour, until they puff right up out of the pan.
Preheat the oven to 375°F and put the rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the loaves are honey brown. Immediately turn the loaves out of their pans and onto a rack to cool.
Ingredients
Directions
Pour 1/2 cup of the water into a bowl and sprinkle over the sugar and yeast; let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy. (If the yeast doesn’t do anything, toss it out and buy fresh yeast.)
In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the beans with the remaining 1 1/2 cups water until as smooth as you can get it. Add to the yeast mixture along with about half of the flour. Stir until well blended. Add the rest of the flour, the salt and butter and stir with the dough hook (or by hand) until well combined and shaggy. Continue to knead (I let the dough hook go for about 8 minutes, poking it down once in awhile) until it’s smooth and elastic. You could do this by hand, too. If you used the dough hook, turn the dough out onto the countertop and knead a few times to make sure it’s evenly smooth. Doesn’t it feel great?
Shape it into a ball and put it back into the bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let it sit for 1 – 1 1/2 hours, until it’s doubled in size.
Butter two loaf pans. Punch the dough down and pat each piece into a rectangle that’s about – or a bit bigger than a standard piece of paper.
Starting at a short end, fold it in thirds, like a letter. Place seam side down in the loaf pans, tucking the ends in. Cover with the tea towel again and leave them for an hour, until they puff right up out of the pan.
Preheat the oven to 375°F and put the rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the loaves are honey brown. Immediately turn the loaves out of their pans and onto a rack to cool.
Umm, when do you put in the beans? along with the rest of the water etc.?
But….what about the beans?
Sorry Julie, I must be slow, but I too need to know how you incorporated the beans and when.
It’s in step 2 right at the beginning
I don’t see where you added the beans. Am I overlooking it somehow?
Up the fiber sneaky….
Sorry guys! I was working on this post on two computers and one version got deleted.. along with the instructions! Just fixed it. Thanks for the heads up!
Julie, with the addition of the beans, how will the dough freeze? I like to bake a loaf and freeze half the dough to bake a week or two later.
Thanks!
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Carmen – I haven’t tried freezing the unbaked dough, but I imagine it would be no different from regular bread dough!
Brilliant. Made it. The picky eater ate it! Brilliant.
The bread is fabulous! Soft, fluffy, delicious!
Since I can’t leave well enough alone, I also made burger buns with the dough. I shaped the dough into 12 flatt-ish buns, brushed them with egg yolk glaze, and sprinkled them with sesame seeds. Baked at 375 for about 25 minutes, rotating pans partway through. Yummy!
I’ve got this bread rising in the pans. I’m not going to tell my family it has beans in it, but just see how they enjoy it.
I hope it tastes as good as it looks ( and feels).
Hi, a small question.. Am I able to replace the all-purpose flour with cononut meal?
Hi Julie. I wanted to stop by to let you know that this bread is awesome. I’ve made it a few times, but with less flour to make smaller loaves, but last night I made the recipe as stated above with a little more sugar and it’s a wonderful recipe. Tender and delicious. Perfect for adding more fiber to the diet. I also bought your Spilling the Beans cookbook last year and I can’t wait to add more beans into my meals. I’m really looking forward to the candied lentils.
I tried this recipe with chickpeas instead of white beans because that’s what I had and I forgot the butter. I also inadvertently forgot about it and let it rise the first time for about 12 hours. Then I let it rise a 2nd time since it was a bit over risen. In the end, we made 3 loaves instead of two. They turned out so nice and fluffy.
From the crumb you use too little salt; not trying to be a critic just what I have learned from experienced.
I need a recipe using only bean flour. Anyone have one of those with a carb count.
Made this recipe for the 2nd time today. This time i made half of the dough into clover leaf and fantail rolls and then a regular loaf out of the rest. Rave reviews from all who ate the buns!
SO great to hear it!!
Any way to make the bread a little more moist or not so crumbly? I’m new to baking bread, so not sure if I made any mistakes. Was delicious though – especially with butter and honey spread on!
Oh interesting… I don’t find it crumbly! Sounds like you perhaps added too much flour? Make sure you aerate it (stir it up) before measuring, so it’s not packed down.
How many ounces or cups is the canned drained beans? I have the dry-cook-your-own ones. 🙂
A 19 oz/540 mL can is equal to 2 cups of cooked beans!
Your bread looks awesome! I am relatively new to baking and was wondering if you ever weighed your flour and beans. It would be so great to know since i have a whole book of recipes – spilling the beans 😉 -to base on those measurements! If you’ve never weighed them before, please let me know what brand of canned beans you buy for your baked goods? Thank you very much for the great tecipes 😀
Hi Jin! I buy all kinds of brands of beans, and drain them… a 19 oz can yields two cups of beans. I generally don’t weigh them, but puree them well and add them to the mix – with yeast breads it’s best to go by feel, and once you’ve made a recipe once or twice, you get the hang of it! Good luck!
Thank you for the reply! I think i will give it a try and adjust as i go instead of obsessing over numbers 😀
Thank you! I will give it a try 😀
Hey! I finally tried it and it was great!
I divided the dough in two and kept half in the fridge for three days and then baked it and i really liked the result 😀
thanks for the recipe!
Oh great, so glad to hear it!
Has anyone tried baking it in a Dutch oven? It’s on my wish list for Santa and I was wondering how it will impact the baking time.
I have made this bread several times in the past and love it!
I haven’t! This quantity would make two loaves though, I’d think!
good lord you guys in the comments are blind, beans go in step 2. use your eyes.
Hello. I made this bread and lived it a while back. My husband has since gone GF. Have you ever tried it with GF flour, and if do, how did it turn out?