Butterfly pea flower tea bread is a delicate tea made from butterfly pea flowers, then the tea is the base for a purple and white bread.
Whether purple, due any measure of acidity, or purely blue, butterfly pea flower tea makes for a vibrant and festive bread. Grated pecorino cheese is the touch of acidity that made this beautiful lilac colored bread dough its color.
Butterfly Pea Flower Tea
What woman wouldn’t delight in a colorful cup of tea or slice of bread for a girlie-gathering over lunch or afternoon tea!
This beautiful herbal tea is a delicate tasting tea created from dried flower petals of the Clitoria tematea plant. Weird name for a plant but oh my goodness the flowers are gorgeous.
While the tea is not particularly intense in flavor, often likened to the flavor of chamomile, it certainly is intense in color.
In fact, the color of the tea is often said to have a sorcerer hidden inside because with only a dribble of something acidic, the intense blue turns to magenta before your eyes.
Bread
You KNOW by now that I love making bread, both yeast bread and quick breads. Truth be known, I could live off Homemade Bread, cheese, olives, grapes, wine and honey desserts!
Bread, though is really just some type of flour, yeast and water. So, being the creative gal that loves texture and color, I needed to expand my bread making into the magical realm of the ‘unusual’!
Homemade Bread Of Vibrant Natural Colors
What color can you make bread? Any darn color of the rainbow, naturally! At Christmas time, I am in love with my divine loaf of Beet and Spinach bread.
The color is vibrant but I put garlic, and cheese and herbs in the dough and quite honestly, who needs anything else!
When I first came across this Butterfly Pea Flower Tea, I knew I had to make bread with it! Remember, I grew up in a heritage that also ate rose petals and orange blossom long before western folks knew about ‘eatable flowers’!
Making Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Bread
Blue or Purple? That was the question. I knew that the intense blue would change to purple with any amount of acidity and so I went with purple, knowing there had to be an element of acidity in the bread dough.
White and Lilac dough would be made separately, risen and then braided, twisted or stacked on top of each other, rolled together and sliced beautifully. The magic that happened in the oven is not of my doing!
I planned a girl’s luncheon just so I could showoff the gorgeous bread. It was pretty, for sure, but since the flavor of the flower is gentle I added a finely grated cheese to the dough to give it flavor but there also was where the acidity came from. Otherwise the bread would have been blue!
Ingredients Needed
- Yeast
- Sugar
- Flour
- Water
- Salt
- Grated cheese
- Butterfly Pea Flower Tea
- Egg
- Tea strainer
- Oil – to oil the rising bowl
Equipment Needed
- 2 large mixing bowls
- Basting brush
- Wooden spoon
- Cookie sheet
- Parchment paper
- Cheese grater – unless your cheese comes grated
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Plastic wrap – to cover both bowls while bread rises
- Oven
Butterfly Pea Flower Tea Bread
Ingredients
- White Dough
- Yeast – 2 teaspoons
- Sugar – 1 tbsp
- Flour – 3 – 4 cups, more for shaping
- Water – 1 1/2 cups
- Salt – 1 tbsp
- Purple Dough
- Yeast – 2 tsp
- Sugar 1 tbsp
- Flour – 3 -4 cups
- Grated Pecorino cheese – 1/4 cup
- Water – 1 1/2 cups
- Butterfly Pea Flower Tea – 1 tbsp
- Egg wash – 1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp water
- Oil – enough to oil both bowls when rising
Instructions
- Purple Dough – Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water in a bowl along with the Butterfly Pea flower tea petals. Allow to steep while making the white dough.
- White Dough – Pour water in a bowl. Sprinkle yeast and sugar on top. Let sit 5 minutes to form a foam.
- Sprinkle salt and add a little flour. Stir. Slowly add flour and stir until it becomes difficult to stir. Now it’s time to get a little messy. With your hands, begin to press added flour into the dough, add more flour, and keep pressing and folding, adding flour until it forms a lovely plump ball.
- In a clean bowl, pour a little oil to glaze the bowl. Place dough ball in the oiled bowl, cover and let it sit in a warm (not hot) place to rise. It will rise in about one hour.
- Purple Dough – Skim the flower petals out from the bowl, pour the remaining 1 cup of room temperature water into the bowl. Sprinkle yeast and sugar on top. Let sit 5 minutes to form a foam.
- Sprinkle in the salt, pecorino cheese and add a little flour. Stir. Slowly add flour and stir until it becomes difficult to stir. With your hands, begin to press added flour into the dough, add more flour, and keep pressing and folding, adding flour until it forms a lovely plump ball.
- Both Dough. Lightly oil two separate bowls and place the dough balls in each bowl. Cover and allow to rise in a warm, not hot, place until double in size, about an hour.
- Preheat oven to 400. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet. Sprinkle flour on a counter top or work surface.
- Take one risen dough, sprinkle flour on top, punch it down, transfer it to the floured countertop and roll it into a long log. *Other shape options, see notes
- Take the other dough out and repeat doing the same.
- Lay the two long logs of dough side by side, pinch the ends together at one end, and begin to wrap the two around each other. Either bring together into a circle of twisted dough or leave in a long log of twisted dough.
- Place the dough on the parchment paper lines baking sheet, brush with egg wash and allow to rest 30 minutes.
- Bake until the bread is firm on the outside, about 20 – 25 minutes. Cool and Serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.
