Spinach Feta Bread

Cooked loaf of spinach and feta bread cooling on rack.

Print Recipe

Prep Time20

Cook Time35

Proofing/rising1 25

Total Time2 20

Course: bread

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: spinach feta bread

Servings:

Calories: 406kcal

Author: Adrianne

Ingredients

Bread ingredients

3 ½ cups/565 grams plain flour Note 1
1 tablespoon white sugar Note 2
1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast Note 3
1 teaspoon salt
1 ⅓ cups milk Note 4
2 tablespoons softened butter

Spinach and feta ingredients

2 cups fresh spinach leaves firmly packed, then chopped which leaves about ½ cups
150 grams butter
1 tablespoon garlic
200 grams Greek feta cheese this is one standard block
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese Note 5

Instructions

Loaf/bread tin: grease a 21 x 11 x 7 cm non stick loaf pan (8.3 x 4.5 x 2.75") with cooking spray.
Bread dough: use cooking spray to lightly grease the bowl, blade and inner lid of a food processor. Then add the plain flour, sugar, yeast, salt, milk and butter. Blitz to combine for less than 40 seconds. You will see the dough come away from the edges and form one large shape.
Knead: tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, give it a quick knead and then place it into a greased mixing bowl. Cover with cling wrap and a tea towel and let it rise for 1 hour.
Spinach feta mixture: add the butter, chopped spinach and garlic to a small mixing bowl and combine. Crumble in the feta cheese and then stir again to combine. Note 6
Layers: remove the tea towel and discard the plastic wrap. Lightly flour the bench surface and then take the dough out of the bowl. Roll it out in a large rectangle shape with pizza size thickness (½ cm or 0.19 inch). Use a soup spoon to dollop the spinach mixture onto the rolled dough in about 6 different spots. Then flip the spoon and use the back of it to spread the spinach mixture out leaving a slight border on all 4 edges. Use a pizza slice to cut this large rectangle with 3 long cuts in either direction. Then take the pieces (stack 4-5) in one hand and place them vertically into the bread tin. Move them to one end as you continue to stack so that they all fit. Then cover the bread with cling wrap and a tea towel and let rise for 25 minutes. Preheat the oven during this time following the temperature guide below.
Preheat the oven: preheat the oven to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5.
Oven bake: remove the tea towel and discard the plastic wrap. Tent the bread then place into the oven on the middle shelf. Pour 1 cup on water into a baking tray on a lower rack. Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes.
To cool: use oven mitts to remove the loaf tin and set it onto a wire cooling rack. Remove the tent. Let the bread cool for 5-10 minutes before using a butter knife around the perimeter to break the seal. Gently remove the cooked bread from the tin.
To serve: serve warm and fresh. Let it be pulled apart, torn apart and dug into!

Video

Notes

Note 1 - Flour: this is plain all purpose flour. We don't need to sift this.
Note 2- Sugar: I am in Australia and our tablespoons measure 20ml. This is larger than other parts of the world. The recipe has been tested with 1 x metric 20 gram tablespoon of white sugar.
Note 3 - Yeast: this is instant yeast. It is the type that does not need liquid to activate it.
Note 4 - Milk: both full cream milk and skim milk can be used. My preference is to use skim milk.
Note 5 - Mozzarella cheese: you can grate this yourself from a block of fresh mozzarella cheese or you can use store bought shredded mozzarella cheese. Choose your preference.
Note 6 - Feta cheese: the reason why I add the butter, garlic and spinach and combine before adding the feta is because we still want big chunky bits of feta in the bread. You need a little elbow grease to combine the initial ingredients and then simply a gentle stir to fold in the feta cheese. If we add the feta at the start but the time it is consistently mix in the pieces will be very grainy and small.

Nutrition