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This dandelion bread is a simple recipe and yet full of flavor and a great way to get some experience with foraged food recipes.
When I see a carpet of dandelions, I am immediately grateful. Grateful for the beauty, the food (for us and for the bees), and the medicine they provide our home. Their mild flavor gives the creative cook ample opportunity to experiment and play in the kitchen.
Gather Dandelions
First, forage from unsprayed areas. No need to bring herbicides into homemade bread.
Second, harvest the blooms when they’re fully and gloriously open. Then give those dandelions a wash to get rid of any grit, bugs, and other less than desirable items.
Snip the Petals
For this dandelion bread recipe, only the yellow petals are needed. Skip the green bits as they can be on the bitter side. Simply hold the dandelion by the stem and snip the petals off into a bowl. A tiny bit of the the green bits won’t hurt anything but try to get mostly just the yellow petals for optimum flavor.
Mild Flavor
The dandelion petals will give the bread a mild honey flavor, which is heightened with actual honey in the dough. The petals do show in the final bread but no one is going to eat this bread and immediately guess it’s made with dandelions.
Because the flavor is mild, choose a mild flavored flour. Rye, for example, will completely overpower the dandelion flavor. Honestly, go for the all-purpose or plain old, white bread flour here. It’s not as healthy but this doesn’t have to be a regular part of the diet, either. Consider it a treat.
How to Use Dandelion Bread
This is a soft bread great for simple sandwiches – think peanut butter and homemade jam. It’s not likely going to hold up to a hearty Reuben.
This does toast up delightfully making it ideal for breakfast with some eggs or simply slathered with butter for a quick snack.
It would also, likely make great French toast but I haven’t tried it yet.
Dandelion Bread
Forage the backyard weed and make some homemade dandelion bread that is perfect with breakfast eggs or in the lunch box peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Ingredients
- ⅓ Cup Dandelion Petals
- 1 Cup Milk
- 1 Tablespoon Dry Active Yeast (1 packet)
- ½ Cup Warm Water
- ¼ Cup Honey
- 2 teaspoons Salt
- ½ Cup Butter, softened
- 2 Eggs
- 5 Cups All-Purpose Flour (more for kneading)
Instructions
- Put the dandelion petals and milk in a small saucepan. Heat the milk just until it scalds. Remove from heat. Let cool to about 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a large bowl, combine the water, honey, yeast, and milk. Let sit until foamy.
- Add the butter and eggs to the yeast mixture. Beat well.
- Add 1 cup of flour and the salt. Continue adding flour until a soft dough forms. Turn out onto a floured counter and knead until soft and elastic.
- Put in an oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled (60-90 minutes).
- Grease 2 bread pans.
- Punch down dough and knead again, pushing out air bubbles.
- Divide dough in half.
- Form 2 loaves and place the dough into the greased bread pans.
- Let rise until doubled (about 30-60 minutes).
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Bake bread in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped with a knuckle.
- Let cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
26Serving Size:
1 SliceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 141Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 24mgSodium: 202mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 1gSugar: 3gProtein: 4g
We try our best but cannot guarantee that nutrition information is 100% accurate.
I can not wait to try your recipe. I picked the wrong on first called for 1 1/2 cup of milk 1/4 cup of oil an egg and only 2 cups of flour. It was soup added 3 more cups of flour. Will see how it turns out but will use yours next time
Let me know how it works for you please. Enjoy.
This is in response to
Patricia Wilkes post
May 18, 2018 at 7:13 pm
She asked if this recipe could be used for a bread maker..
I’m proof you can.. I put the ingredients in the order my BM states.. Put it on dough cycle and you now have some free time up to your dough cycle completing.. You can still prep your milk and petals the same before adding to BM.. This recipe is for Two loaves so may want to bake it in the oven.. Not in your BM…
Thank you so much for sharing these tips!
I just made this bread with my toddler. I think it will become a family staple in the springtime. It is so yummy! My husband is still struggling with the idea that I put dandelions in food, but hopefully he will get over it. Cooking with dandelion is something I have wanted to try for a while now. I have roots in the dehydrator to try tea, and cooked up some greens with some other sautéed vegetables for dinner. So far this bread is our favorite.
Oh I’m so glad to know that you made and enjoyed this bread. Thank you so much for letting me know.
@Anna, try making dandelion jelly. Slightly tart & honey sweet. Create on totes and english muffins. Melt a tablespoon or two in the microwave and pour it on ice cream, waffles or pancakes!!!
Found this while looking for dandelion recipes – Thanks so much for sharing! Currently making dandelion jello. Making bread with dandelions is now on the list of must do! Only it will be gluten free and dairy free (thanks to Celiac and dairy intolerance). I know our children will love it!
@Mabel,
Any chance you could share your GF recipe if it were a success? Are you using the GF flour mix or your own? Please let me know, best – Kicki
Hi
Is there a way to convert this recipe to my bread maker?
I’m sorry, Patricia, I don’t know. I’ve never used a bread maker. I imagine it can be done but I don’t know how. I know that’s not helpful.
Scroll up, someone used this recipe in the bread maker
Hi in the recipe it calls for 1/3 cup of dandelion petals, does that mean the top of the yellow part, or the yellow part all pulled off of the stem?
Pull the yellow parts from the stem. The green bits can be a little bitter.
I am so excited to make this bread, however it is raining where I am are the dandelions still usable for the bread? or should I wait on a day when it’s not raining?
Are the dandelions open? If so, I’d go for it. You’d want to rinse them off and give them a spin through a salad spinner or something to remove some excess water before adding them to the dough. Enjoy!
I made this. It is a perfect sandwich bread! I did substitute 3 cups of King Arthur Bread flour for 3 of the cups of the all-purpose flour. I also added 1/4 cup more dandelion petals. I baked it for 29 min. I did put foil over the loaves after 15 min. of baking. I was afraid of the tops getting too done. Perhaps next time I’ll bake this for 27 min. It turned out wonderfully!
Thank you for these notes! I’m so glad to know that you enjoyed the bread.
I made Dandelion bread with whole grains fresh ground into flour. So good, used dandelion pesto and homemade cheese to make a grilled sandwich. Thank you for all of your inspiration!!
Yum!
I just made this yesterday and it’s delicious! I am going to add more dandelion next time because it didn’t taste dandelion-y at all for us, but even without much dandelion taste it was soooooo good. This recipe is definitely a favorite now! I used it for French toast this morning and YUM!!!
Anyone tried it with regular sugar?
I made this bread yesterday. It’s wonderful! I did use more petals in mine as others have stated. It has a nice faintly sweet taste. It’s such a soft sandwich bread! I’ll definitely be making this every year. Thank you!
So glad to hear it!
@Kathie Lapcevic,
Just made this bread and it is now a favorite! Also made the dandelion honey butter. So good. This bread is a winner for sure! Now I am excited to try more of your dandelion recipes. Thank you for sharing!
I’m so very glad to hear it!
Every time I’ve made this the center of both loaves is soooooo doughy! I mean, straight dough. I follow the recipe to a T and the tops are nice and dark but you can only eat the ends :( is there a trick to getting the center to cook through without burning it????
You can always tent bread with aluminum foil to prevent burning – I’ve had that probelm with this recipe but if the crust is getting too dark, the foil tent is an old timey trick.
I was wondering if you could make dinner rolls, like clover rolls, with this recipe. Any ideas on this?
I’ve made dinner rolls before this recipe and it definitely worked, just check the baking time. I haven’t made clover rolls but I can’t see why you couldn’t.
Today I am making this bread for the 2nd time. It is a wonderful bread! I think this time I will use potato starch water to reduce the crumble a bit. I will also use bread flour this time. It may make the bread a little more like what I want compared to APF. We love this bread and I have lots of dried dandelion petals to make many batches!!😊
I have made this recipe before. My son-in-law-to-be loves it. I just came home from work, and I’m going to make him a loaf and a love for me for Christmas!
@Linda, Almost done. On the 2nd rise. The first rise smelled wonderful! I used almost 1/2 cup of dandelion petals this time. The dough looks beautiful. Baked wonderfully!
can you use this recipe with other flowers in place of the dandilions?
I’m making it now with the dandilions but anlm curios about other flavors
I think you could certainly with any edible flower you enjoy – rose petals, lilacs, etc. Each will be different but I don’t see why it couldn’t be done.
making this for the 1st time! how long till it is foamy?
It would depend on your yeast but usually less than 10 minutes.