Beet Bread

I have been making beet bread for years now. And while I loved the flavor of the bread, I never quite figured out how to keep the beet bread’s deep red color until this year. Essentially, I had to start from scratch and re-think and test everything that went into my recipe. Now I will be honest here, if you do not like the taste of beets you will not like this- at all! It is *very* beet forward. I, for one, love the earthiness of this beet bread but because it is quite a bit of work, I wanted to add a little disclaimer!

So, why was this a challenge? If you’ve worked with beets before, either in powder or as a whole veggie, you know that their color is fickle. It can either be a beautiful deep maroon, or it turns a reddish-brown after it’s been cooked. The reason for this? To get a little science-y here, the pigment responsible for the deep red of beets is called betanin. It is water soluble which is why it is great for dyeing things, but it is also sensitive to heat and pH. Betanin will break down at the high temperatures that are required to bake bread, which is why that deep red turns ruddy brown. In order to prevent this, we need to change the pH of the baking environment to help preserve color. I knew this in previous recipes, which is why I often add orange zest to beets to help preserve color, but it doesn’t always work completely.

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Deep Red or Ruddy Brown Beet Bread? Here’s Why:

First, here’s an overview of how pH changes change the color. The more basic the solution becomes the less colorful the result is, so we want to lean into the acidic side (why we add acidic citrus) to preserve that color.

• pH 4–5: Beet juice is a bright bluish-red color. 
• pH 5–7: Beet juice becomes blue-violet. 
• pH above 7.5: Beet juice turns yellow-brown due to hydrolysis. (Hydrolysis is a chemical ‘decomposition’ reaction which results in the breakdown of bonds.)

But here’s what more and more testing showed me what the snag was. I almost exclusively use water to bloom yeast and be the liquid in all of my bread recipes. Drinking water is generally relatively neutral on the pH scale- usually around 7-7.5. Adding the water-soluble beet to that neutral water means that the color will fade more quickly even with citrus added in, because citrus can only change the scale a bit unless you add a large quantity which would change the taste of the bread.

So, I swapped the water for milk, which has a pH of 6.5 because of its lactic acid but still has water for the beet to dissolve into. Add the citrus to that lower pH and you have that sweet spot of around 4.5-5pH. Pair that pH with boiled beets instead of beet powder, and you create a beautiful deep red beet bread. Note: This is also why you cannot switch dairy milk with a plant-based milk based of oh pH reactions- for example almond milk is far too basic at 7.6!

Beet Bread Ingredients

Beet Bread Method

Scrub three small beets thoroughly. Place them in a small saucepan of cold water and bring to a boil. Boil the beets until a fork can pass through them easily. About 20 minutes.

Let the beets cool enough to handle and then remove the skins. Then mash the beets! You can use a stick blender like I did, a potato ricer, or even a fork. We want the beets to be blended enough that they don’t leave big chunks behind, so they incorporate into the bread dough seamlessly. We need one cup of these blended beets.

In a saucepan gently heat the milk to a warm temperature- not hot! A great way to test this is to stick a clean finger in, and if you can hold it there it’s warm, if not too hot- and we don’t want to kill the yeast. Stir in the sugar and then add yeast and let it bloom until foamy. About ten minutes.

Add the flour, salt, one cup of beets, and the bloomed yeast and milk mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Knead for ten minutes. The dough should turn a beautiful red color. If you see any large chunks of beet, you can pick them out. (They will also fall out as you knead by hand later.)

Pull the dough ball out and knead by hand for 2-3 minutes, and then shape into a ball and pop back into the bowl and cover to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.

Oil a Dutch oven (I’m using a festive heart-shaped Le Creuset) to prep for the bread.

Punch down the risen dough and knead again for 2-3 minutes to redistribute the yeast.

Transfer to the Dutch oven and let rise for an additional 45 minutes to an hour until the dough has doubled in volume.

Preheat the oven to 350º and bake the bread, lid on, for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool, lid on (so it continues to bake) before cutting into it. (Note: in my Instagram video I cut into the bread while still hot, so you can see the center of the bread is a bit dense! I was being impatient and not wanting to lose the natural light- so do as I say, not what I do for the perfect bread!)

This super savory beet bread pairs well with bold flavors. Try goat cheese, salty butter, or even ricotta as pairings!

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