Since is has little flavor and not packed with nutrition, I would have put it in the compost.

Lettuce from a grocery store is mostly a texture, rather than something with flavor. It is a medium for a bright pop of dressing.

Fresh lettuce from the garden has its own delicate appeal and that is about the only time that I can say it can sing on its own.

These were tasty lettuces. Not iceberg. I can taste them in the bread. And they're green, so the bread is kind of green.

Very interesting. How much of the water in the recipe was liquified lettuce? What are other veg you liquify for bread? Could you juice veg instead of liquify?

I’m wondering if this approach can change (improve) the nutritional content of the bread in a material way.

I highly doubt that there is any appreciably greater nutrition. One would eat a whole serving of the quantity of vegetables in a loaf. I do it for the flavor variation. Basic flour, water, yeast, salt recipe. ADY for stability. (Starter can freak out when there are new players in the game.) The quantity of water depends on what you're making. In this loaf, there was a splash of water to bloom the yeast in, but the rest was the lettuce/scallion mix. About 9-10 fl. oz. to 400g flour. Juice works fine. With all of this, just make sure it isn't too cold or acidic or anything else which will annoy the yeast. For this loaf, I used a finely milled, high protein flour. It might have had better legs if I'd used a coarser flour and/or some additional vital wheat gluten. There was malt in this one. The driest vegetable I've used, For that, I did 2/3 beet puree, 1/3 water. Last time was zucchini (fruit!) and it didn't need any extra water at all.

I wonder what would happen if you replaced water with, let’s say, chicken stock.

Thinking about it a bit more, what is the role of the water in bread dough? I guess it is to give the yeast a medium in which to multiply and off-gas, to hold the flour together, and maybe to steam - oh, and to be tasty and safe for humans. I guess we should test a bunch of edible liquids and see which the yeast like best.

Or maybe we select candidates based on what microbiologists use. https://bitesizebio.com/52937/yeast-media/

In theory, I think stock would work, but instinct doesn't like it for food propriety. In a stuffed bun, treated as a meat dish, fine, but not a loaf of bread unchilled (chilling tightens the starch, which is called ”staleness”) . Your article is about lab yeast. Commercial granulated yeast and home grown starter yeast, two different kinds, both making good bread, eat sugar or the sugars in flour, and need water to be active. You can preserve your starter/wild yeast by drying it (starter is a dough or slurry of flour water and yeast). You activate your yeast by dissolving in water and feeding it. I keep my yeast in the fridge, so took out a spoonful to warm up from dormant, but it took a couple of days to have time to bake. At that point, the ADY was room temp, and the splash of room temp water was enough to activate it. I could have given it some flour and more time to fluff up, but a longer rise time achieves the same outcome.

The gluten can't develop without water. The flour must hydrate, and the two compounds need to get together. I'm no expert in the science beyond that. Do look up bread science, rather than laboratory microbiology for more info.

Beyond those needs, while out gassing of the yeast (or soda+acid in quickbreads) is important to the rise, steam is also a factor. Currently high hydration breads are popular. They are inherently flawed. I keep experimenting just for kicks. I thought this loaf was going to be moderate from how it behaved, but I should have given it a longer hydrolize for the lettuce to finish giving up its liquid, In the end, it was much wetter. I should have added more flour or gluten, but I didn't have time to fuss. And even without the stonger gluten and puffiness, it's mighty good eating.

It's an interesting idea. But, I love the taste of bread. I don't think I'd want to flavour it. What if you mixed up your loaves and ended up with jam on carrotty bread? LOL You can get so much variation from the different flours.

no everything bagels for you! Check! Whatever floats your boat. The lettuce-scallion bread is very nice with a creamy, spicy cheddar I had a bit of.

“Lettuce is really just crunchy water.”

Love it!!!!

Propriety schmoriety! I think we need to see what Giselle can do with the stock-bread idea.

LOL! What I meant was I'm not comfortable with leaving a meat product. however much cooked, on the counter. I know you like to push it, but this is different from your were once really hot and no one's put their dirty fingers in it leftovers. That said, you do you. Giselle is a glammed up oven. I'm sure she can bake just fine.

My freshly baked bread never stays on the counter - or anywhere outside my tummy - very long. That’s why I had to stop baking bread :-(

spinach ... popeye bread

Doesn’t romaine have nutritional value? iceberg lettuce is good for refreshing crunch. I love it on tuna salad sandwiches. No significant nutritional value.

I like to used darker greens (spinach, watercress) in salads and on Ramen soups (bok choy leaves also).

That bread you made might make good croutons.

There are some nutrients in romaine and the darker lettuces. Maybe even iceberg. But by the time it's been setting in a bag, washed, for days, I don't count on it, and there wasn't that much anyway. I was a bit surprised how well the lettuces worked, and not surprised that it interfered with the rise. I know the compromise I was making when I didn't fully liquify but just accepted what the FP did.

It is good bread, nonetheless. I don't know if you can see the crumb structure. It's a bit compressed at the edges, but open in the middle. It has a nice texture. with chewy crusts. Yes, it would make good croutons, but that would imply that it lasted long enough to dry out...

Dave, I'm pretty sure I've made spinach bread before. ;)