Chive Blossom Bread
Hello, I tried making Chive Blossom Bread this week.
A lucky venture to the local mill yielded a new-to-me flour product: purple wheat flour (sold as Anthograin).
Purple chive blossoms and purple flour are combined in this bread, with no resulting purple color in the finished bread whatsoever :^)
The baked breads (I tried scoring chives on one loaf and stencilled chives on another; the loaves at the front were scored to make them look like chive blossoms (the little one was snipped with scissors) – didn’t really turn out like I’d hoped!):
The purple flour: 
My chive patch is just coming into blossom, with pretty little purple flowers.
Individually, the chive flowers look like lilies to me :^) 
Chive blossoms have a very delicate oniony flavor; I've infused vinegar with them and enjoyed the blossoms sprinkled over salads. Not sure how their flavor would hold through a bake, I also added chopped chives to the dough.
These are the chive blossoms I added to the dough:
The base dough is Pugliese, from Advanced Bread and Pastry, using 20% purple wheat flour both in the sponge and final dough, an extra ounce of water, and a generous teaspoon of chive blossom vinegar (thanks to Karin for this idea; her recent post, using vinegar as an ingredient, is here).
The sponge and final dough had some nice purple color:
Here are some crumb shots. The flavor is nice and oniony!
bits of chive in the crumb: 
see the little chive blossom peeking out? 
Happy baking everyone!
from breadsong
Comments
Quite interesting Breadsong. Your loaves look soft and delicate, what did you end up pairing them with?
Artistic as always! :)
Hello arlo,
Thank you! Re: pairing, my favorite lunch these days is a slice of bread with a bit of good cheese, with fruit on the side, or some tomato; this week it's Asiago cheese :^)
We'll probably have some of this bread with dinner tomorrow; we may just enjoy it simply, with some Kerrygold butter - yum!
:^) from breadsong
Breadsong, those loaves, and your presentation, are the first time I have every become interested in chive blossoms. And you really did make me interested. Thanks you. :-)
Ron
Hello Ron,
I've always loved chive blossoms for their color, and for the bees they attract to the garden.
It is the local herbfarm lady I have to thank, for getting me interested in eating them!
Thanks so much, from breadsong
Your scoring and stenciling may not have been completely what you wanted, breadsong, but they look just great to me. I always enjoy your posts, most especially for the thought and effort that you put into devising some of your breads. Lovely.
Hello louie,
Thank you very much. I had your lovely scallion bread and its onion flavor in mind as I was making this!
:^) from breadsong
Absolutely beautiful!
Thanks, Floyd!
Very creative, Breadsong! Beautiful stenciling and scoring, as always. And a very open crumb, too. Have to agree with Louie about the amount of thought and effort you put into your breads.
Syd
Hello Syd, Thank you - and I'm glad you liked these breads and their crumb. The dough bubbled along very nicely, with this potato Pugliese formula. A friend of mine at work told me today her uncle is growing purple potatoes this year...guess I'll have to try and get some, and try this bread again :^)
from breadsong
What a tasty sounding bread with such a great looking crumb and creative touches. Your chive flowers are so beautiful, I also enjoy using flowers in my food preparations and your chive flowers are an inspiration!
Sylvia
Hello Sylvia, Thanks so much!
I was most pleasantly surprised the first time I tasted a chive blossom. The blossoms are really pretty scattered over a salad. I tried making chive blossom vinegar - makes a really good-tasting vinaigrette - and the blossoms turn the vinegar a nice pink color.
I'd love to hear how you use flowers in your wonderful baking and cooking!
:^) from breadsong
Oh my, I can't think of any place not to put a flower...and what a beauty is the tiny little individual chive flower in your photo! I really enjoy using flowers on cakes, or for accents on breads and scones. I look forward to rosemary flowers blooming each year. One of my daughter's favorite breads is a rosemary, lemon bread. I made this one ...but I think my favorite ways of enjoying flowers is eating and seeing them in salads.
Sylvia
Hello Sylvia,
Those beautiful, soft blue rosemary flowers look so nice on your lemon-rosemary bread and scones!
Thanks for sharing these photos. And what a beauty is that lemon tree (luxury!).
Orange and rosemary are one of my favorite flavor combinations, and lemon and rosemary is so good too.
I've got some fresh rosemary on hand - will try to put it good use - thanks for your delicious-looking ideas!
:^) from breadsong
Update: Sylvia, I made Lemon-Orange-Rosemary-Raisin Scones for a Sunday treat...YUM! Thanks so much for the idea!
:^) from breadsong
Hi Breadsong,
I can't even manage to cut enough from our chive pot to meet our salad needs, let alone find any to include in bread.
The finish in the crumb is really special, and your trademark stencilling is as lovely as ever
Best wishes
Andy
Hello Andy, The chive patch seems to grow a little bit each year as they naturalize in the garden!
Thank you for your compliments on the bread; I'm so happy with how they turned out, flavor and crumb-wise.
:^) from breadsong
Breadsong,
Your breads make me drooling all over again especially your crumb pictures. I love the stenciled chives loaf. I don’t see much chive blossoms in our farmer market for now may later on; I would like to visit your garden since I’m plant killer. I admire you have such a wonderful skills. I hope you have wonderful weekend.
Kimmy
Hello Kimmy, and thank you!
I hope you find chives and chive blossoms at your local farmer's market. I love growing chives...I planted them once, years ago, and seeing the green shoots pop up in early spring each year is such a happy sight in the garden. I cut them back after flowering and they grow up again, yielding new greens and a second crop of blossoms; joy!
Thanks so much Kimmy and I'm so glad you liked this bread. I hope you have a great weekend too, and enjoy all of those gorgeous breads you baked and the wonderful things you've made to go with them!
:^) from breadsong
So many great things in this post, breadsong. Where should I start? The scoring and stencilling is so artistic and wonderful.
The purple flour is very interesting. It looks almost like some kind of whole wheat or something. The crumbs are great, translucent, open and so appealing.
I love the idea of chive flowers. I have to put this in my notebook for next summer. I never thought about using them with anything before. Thanks a lot for the idea.
Sue
http://youcandoitathome.blogspot.com
Hello Sue, Thanks so much!
I read the flour's purple color comes from the same antioxidant that gives blueberries their color. It's 100% whole wheat.
The lady at the mill showed me the wheat berries and they had the most beautiful purple color.
I had thought about using chives for bread, but not the blossoms...but that purple flour got me thinking!
:^) from breadsong
Those are magnificent, Breadsong. Again you have combined great artisan baking creativity with amazing visual aesthetics. I bet these breads taste as good as they look.
I must plant some chives!
Glenn
Hello Glenn, Thank you very much for your kind words!
The bread is really flavorful, imho.
I'm sure you will enjoy having fresh chives on hand.
:^) from breadsong
I have a bunch of chive blossoms that need a good home and a loaf of bread sounds like the perfect home for them! Unfortunately, I don't have potatoes or potato flakes for the Pugliese, what other dough would you recommend? Will you divulge the final dough weight and the amount of chives and blossoms that you used?
Hello butterflygrooves, So nice to hear you've got some chive blossoms so you can try this!
This was a 2-pound dough recipe, unevenly divided into 4 boules.
The chives and blossoms are so tender, I think they would mix easily into any bread dough that wasn't really stiff in consistency.
I sliced about 12 chives and added them at the start of the mix of the final dough.
I kneaded in the chive blossoms (about 18-20 blossoms, separated) into the dough after the gluten was developed.
I hope you enjoy this bread!
:^) from breadsong
Hi Breadsong,
Your chive bread looks and sounds delicious, what a great idea! The nice thing about chives is they have lots of onion flavour but none of the sharpness that you sometimes get in a typical onion, even the sweet varieties. The crumb is spectacular, as many have already noted, but Wow...just amazing! The Anita's Anthograin looks interesting. Were you able to detect any distinctive flavour from it, or did the other flavours dominate? I'll have to see if I can pick some of it up over here on the Island and give it a try. Wonderful post with lots of good ideas and information.
Thanks!
Franko
Hi Franko, Thank you so much!
I can't pick out any special flavor from the purple wheat - the onion flavor is dominant - but it's good!
The potato adds some nice flavor too.
I hope your local store has this, or is able to get it for you. If not, you know I'm happy to send some over to you :^)
from breadsong
I was so busy admiring your chive stencil that I almost missed the fact that the crumb looks terrific - chive petal and all. You give us so much to look at. -Varda
Hello Varda,
Thank you, and I'm so glad you liked the bread!
:^) breadsong
My chives are in full bloom and it is baking day and you have inspired me! I decided to use the blossoms in a loaf of Italian dough but thought I should taste the blossoms to gauge how to use them. Whew! My blossoms have a VERY oniony,almost sharp onion taste! Quite delicious but stronger than I thought they would be.I didn't incorporate quite as many as originally planned and they do look lovely in the dough.
My dill is also prolific and fresh so the second half of the dough will be a dill loaf.
Thank you for such a lovely inspiration! My dinner salad will also have some lovely chive blossoms. I never would have thought to use them.
Hello, I hope you are happy with the flavor of the bread after it's baked, and like the flavor of the blossoms with your salad.
Dill bread is yummy - it's so nice to be able to enjoy the fresh herbs!
Thanks so much for writing.
:^) from breadsong
Hello everyone - the chive blossoms are in full flower right now, and these days bumblebees are frequent visitors;
I had to take a picture of this gossamer-winged bumblebee (which paused for only a moment)!
:^) from breadsong
This was such a lovely and delicious bread and here it is Chive season again! My dill is also a few inches tall-geathery and beautiful for snipping into breads and salads!
Enjoy and bake something delicious!
Hello, and so nice to get your note - thanks for you kind wishes and I hope you enjoy the fresh herbs this season too!
The chive blossoms are just beginning here, in the garden - looking forward to picking some very soon.
:^) breadsong