Bean bread

Continuing my journey for high protein foods I tried out a recipe for bread made with beans and vital wheat gluten.  It took two tries to get it just right but it was an instant hit with my husband, and fairly successful with Chiquita.


Here's my version of the recipe I found online:
- one can pinto beans
- 2 tbps honey
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 cup vital wheat gluten
- 1 1/2 cup white flour
- 1 Tbsp active dry yeast

I had to add the honey and salt since the original recipe was with baked beans which have added sugar and salt.  I really wanted this to be high protein which is why I went with so much vital wheat gluten.  For those of you with gluten intolerance, I got a soy protein flour that I'm going to experiment with too.

I just dumped everything in my bread machine and set it for basic.  It rose really big, almost too big for my machine, but ended up lovely.  Nice and soft on the inside with a little crunch to the crust. 
 
The first time I made it I just did it on a dough setting and then baked it in the oven in two loaf pans.  That gave me the smaller loafs but it was a little extra work since the dough needed to rise in the pans and I struggle with things I have to go back and check on :)  

Chiquita ate a few pieces of bread plain, something I don't think she's done before, and at around 7.5 grams of protein per slice of the big loaf (assuming you slice it into about 12 slices) I was very happy.