I wonder if I’m the only one that has “non artistic” days 
In the last week all the photos I took were rubbish (and I’m being kind to them). I’m far from being a great food photographer but there are days no matter how many pictures I take all of them land in the recycle bin. I know practice makes perfect, but seems like I’m now starting to take photos.
My pictures are out of focus, poorly lit, the style is non-existent 
The photos of this bread are far from showing a wonderful loaf. But I decided to embarrass myself and show them anyhow.
Why, you may wonder. Well, the bread is so good is really worth mentioning it. I may not have taken mouth-watering photos of it, but trust me, once you have a slice, you don’t care if it’s picture perfect or not.
The idea of this bread starting from a photo of spinach quinoa muffins I spotted on Pinterest.
But I didn’t want to make muffins. I had bread on my mind.
I remembered seeing a spinach bread in a bread-machine cookbook I have. Although I don’t own a bread machine, the book has some great bread ideas.
Like this spinach bread. Or three cheese buns. Or Chocolate muffins
Combining the quinoa from the muffins with some wilted spinach (idea taken form the cookbook) seemed like a great combo. And it was!
The sweetness of the sautéed onion, the wilted baby spinach combined with quinoa and some toasted sunflower seeds made such a wonderful combo!
The crust is soft from the addition of olive oil, flavors are bursting in every bite.
It may not be picture-perfect, but it sure tasted better than I had expected.
If i had to change something, I’d probably double the amount of quinoa and spinach, just to kick a little more the level of nutrition.
A flavorful loaf of bread, packed with quinoa seeds and baby spinach. Perfect with a warm bowl of soup or pasta.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (120 grams) all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (60 ml) lukewarm water
- 2 tsp yeast
- 1/2 cup quinoa
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 chopped onion
- 4 oz baby spinach
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 4 tbsp toasted sunflower seeds
- 4 cups (480 grams) all purpose flour
- more flour for dusting
Instructions
- Start by cooking the quinoa in a small sauce-pan. For 1/2 cup quinoa seeds 1 cup of water it is needed. Cooking the quinoa should take anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes over low heat.
- Meanwhile saute the onion with the 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the baby spinach and let it wilt.
- In a mixing bowl measure 1 cup flour. Make a well in the middle and pour 1/2 cup lukewarm water and sprinkle 2 tsp yeast on top. Leave at room temperature until the yeast is dissolve and bubbles appear.
- When the yeast is proofed added the cooked quinoa, wilted spinach and onion, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 cup olive oil,1/2 cup water and the sunflower seeds.
- With the mixer on the lowest speed, slowly add 4 cups of flour.
- The dough will be soft and elastic. With floured hands take the dough out of the bowl and place it into a clean floured bowl. Cover and let it rest until double in volume. This should take only 40-50 minutes.
- Punch down the dough, knead my hand for another minute and divide it into two balls. Shape each ball into a log and place it on floured baking sheets. I used a banquette pan, but a cookie one will work just as well.
- Cover again and let it rise for another 15-20 minutes.
- Meanwhile heat the oven to 400F.
- Bake the breads for ~ 45 to 50 minutes.
- Leave them to cool before slicing.
- Enjoy!
Notes
We enjoyed the bread as it was. If I had to change something I'd double the amount of quinoa and spinach.
Sending love your way,
Roxana
Linking this loaf of bread to
Junia’s #greenslove
Heather’s – Bake Your Own Bread
Susan’s Yeastspotting
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
Your spinach bread looks delicious and just the kind of bread I would love to make and enjoy! You’re too hard on your photos! I also love the color of this bread, very nice with a slice of cheese;-)
Your bread does look delicious! I wonder if I could get Dudette to eat it if I told her it was supposed to be eaten with green eggs and ham.
I love the look and think it would perfect toasted and topped by a poached egg for breakfast.
I love fresh bread, and am always trying to feel less guilty about eating it. This recipe sounds perfect!!
I hate taking picture of bread, I can never make it look good. Cut yourself some slack!! These pictures look great!
You are not the only one my friend. The only thing more frustrating than one of those days is when someone goes on and on about how my work looks just fine and I need to realize that blah blah…
As an artist, when we are unhappy with our work that’s just the way it is. BUT I must say that I love how your lighting allows me to see the color and texture of this bread. Your photograph is staged so ideally in my opinion that I swear I smell fresh baked bread right now.
I love your style. You can take a loaf of bread and make it look so tantalizing and tempting that I have to make it so I can have just a sample of your creation!
Thank you for sharing this.
You’re definitely not the only one that has un-artistic days!! In fact I think I have them way more frequently than most people. I remake quite a few dishes because the pictures weren’t good enough the first time, haha. Your bread looks delicious though. I always have a hard time photographing bread anyways, I don’t know why, it’s just difficult, but yours looks great. The quinoa and spinach sound delicious!
Thanks for the link love on my spinach quinoa muffins! Your bread looks awesome. I have a bread machine, maybe I’ll try it in the machine and let you know how it goes. Wishing you a great week!
Roxana, are you kidding me with those pictures?! Those are beautiful and I could only hope that I am as good as you are someday. This bread is everything that is on my list of loves. Veggies and bread
I have days where my pictures just aren’t turning out. Especially since the time has changed and we aren’t seeing as much sunshine. Soon though, very soon we will have our sunshine back!
There are definitely days I can’t take any good photo. I blame the lights lol.
Your bread still sounds fantastic! Quinoa, onion and spinach in a loaf of bread.. now I need to try that!
we are our biggest critic…don’t be so hard on yourself – you take great pictures! at least you can make bread….i cannot for the life of me. yeasted goods are my enemy! they don’t like to work with me
This sounds like a great loaf Roxanna! Love that you added quinoa.
The bread looks fine to me! Don’t be so hard on yourself
And more importantly – it sounds absolutely delicious! thanks for sharing 
Looks amazing. Period! Filed into my “to try: breads” notebook. Thanks for this post!
I love cooking and baking with spinach – this bread looks fantastic! I will be making…
Amazing all the things you can do with green leaves!
Great baguettes,
Sending #greenlove to you
pinach and quinoa, what a combo roxanna… I think your pics are great, but I totan’t totally understand. Some days I spend all day taking pics and nothing, nada, zilch.. all sent to thrash!
Your pics look beautiful to me!!I can almost smell a freshly baked bread here
Love the addition of spinach and quinoa, so nutritious and delicious 
I love the green tinge! And I love that this sounds so healthy with the quinoa and sunflower seeds right inside – nice. Beautiful loaf! Thanks for sharing this one with BYOB this month, too
I wish I had your talent for bread making…or just baking in general. I would never be able to create my own version of any baked good out of inspiration. This bread screams healthy but I disagree with you. Your photos do show what a great job you did. I can see the flecked with all kinds of good stuff. Don’t be so hard on yourself–we all have off days in photography and some things are just beyond our control. I think these pictures are perfectly fine!
I’m so impressed Roxana, you always turn out lovely breads with great flavor combinations, I will have to try this!
interesting; nice blend of ingredients. BTW, I more often than not have non-artistic days
Roxanna, YUM! This looks incredible and right up my alley. Love it!
I think your pictures are beautiful! And that bread is rather beautiful, too. Yum!
you are the bread queen! i love the spinach and onions here! i totally know what u mean about photography. since i’m not professionally trained at all, never took a class, there are some days where i take over 100 pictures and i am just not happy about them. some things are just so hard to photograph! ps – i was subscribed to your blog, but this post never came up in my google reader! i saw this on the greenslove bloghop. did anything change?
Love the idea of savory veggies in this bread and the addition of quinoa and seeds.
Hi Roxana,
You are not the only one with those days. I have them even weeks it feels like sometimes:) Your photos look nice. But we can all pay you hundreds of compliments but if one is not happy with the photos then the bad is all we see. I think your bread looks wonderful and sounds so delicious. Thanks for sharing:)
This bread looks delicious – I’ve never dreamed of using spinach in this way.
This looks wonderful! I can’t wait to bake this one! Stopping by from greenslove bloghop!
Once I get started eating a delicious bread like this, I won’t stop until the whole loaf is gone!
What a delicious loaf and can’t believe there’s spinach in it! Thanks for sharing the #greenslove with us!
Oh I need to get one of those loaf pans, it is so fun!!! This bread sounds delicious:-) We made three loaves of bread last weekend, I love making bread:-) Hugs, Terra
i bet this taste so amazing! I can’t wait to try it out! Your breads always look fantastic!
you are seriously the bread queen! i love the spinach and quinoa you put into this bread!!! sending some #greenslove to you!
I think you are being way to hard on yourself! Even without ready the recipe/ingredients I can see how delightful this bread is…lovely and delicious!
I love this bread…definitely going to put it on my list of things to make!
#greenslove
Jen
My mum is always on the case of feeding me spinach – now I have a delicious reason too
Thanks!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Latest: Colossal Caramel Peanut Monster Cookies
This bread looks so hearty and delicious!!
This looks just delicious!!!! I’m always looking for ways to add more green to our meals.
lovely crust! Spinach with bread would be such a lovely breakfast with some butter
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