I Love You Bread

Stir the warm water and yeast in the canister of your bread machine; wait 5 minutes for it to foam. Then add remaining ingredients (except the coloring). Close the lid and set on dough setting. (If you don’t have a bread machine, make this like any other bread: Knead the ingredients in a bowl until it comes together into a dough, let rise in warm area.)

When the dough is done remove it to a lightly floured work surface. Separate the dough into two dough balls, one being much smaller (about an eighth of the rest of the dough). Use an electric mixer with the paddle attachment to knead the red food coloring into the small dough until evenly distributed. Add more food coloring until you achieve the right color. (I like using food coloring gel, it seems to work better than liquid drops for bread dough).

Now shape your bread! Using your hands or a rolling pin roll out two thin red dough logs of equal thickness and the length of your bread loaf pan. Lay one on top of the other, then use a rolling pin or your fingers to flatten and press one side together (lengthwise) with the other. This will form a long heart shape.

Next, separate the white dough into four portions: three equal sized and one much smaller. Using your hands roll two large white dough logs of equal thickness and the length of the bread loaf pan. Assemble by using these two white dough logs underneath and on the sides to support the red heart dough in the middle. Take the small white dough portion and roll it into a long skinny log. Place on top of the red heart between the two humps. This will help the heart retain its shape during baking.

Now with the remaining white dough, roll it out with a rolling pin to create a large square sheet that is the length of the bread loaf pan. Use this sheet like a blanket and put it under and around the assembled white and red dough logs. (For photos of this assembly process, please see my website.)

Place into a greased 9×5″ bread loaf pan. Cover with a towel. Let it rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350ºF at the end of the rise time.

Bake at 350ºF for 30 minutes. Let cool. Slice and enjoy. Store in a Ziploc bag to retain freshness or it will get hard overnight.