Minestrone and Oregano-Dried Tomato Bread

Today, I was in some kind of rustic mood, if I may say that, so the timing couldn't have been better to cook a big pot of minestrone. The other reason for the soup is that I have collected a couple of parmesan rind, that actually is the heart of every minestrone. Without it is just not the same, and nothing can replace that savoury cheese. Minetrone is a soup that you can enjoy in every season, but to me winter is the best time of the year for a bowl of heart warming soup. This season I always add dried beans and curly kale or savoy cabbage to the vegetable mixture. Just feel free to use any vegetable you have at home and are in season. I think dried beans are essential, but if it should be rice or pasta, is really up to you. Freshly baked bread is just perfect with it, however those who follow my blog know, that I am not very good in bread baking. However today it must be my lucky day, because I managed to bake a soft bread with a crispy crust. Finally, I made it!

Ingredients:
for the soup:
50-70 g dried beans
1000-1500 ml vegetable or chicken stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion
3-4 carrots
1 piece of celeriac
2 parsley root
1 leek
1 garlic clove
2-3 potatoes
1 can plum tomatoes
5-6 leaves curly kale
1 piece of parmesan rind
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
40-50 g pasta
salt, pepper

Drain dried beans the evening before and cook it the next day until soft. Peel and dice the vegetables and sautee in olive oil for a few minutes. Add about a 1/4 teaspoon salt and dried oregano, the parmesan rind and the garlic clove. Pour stock over it, add canned tomatoes and cook over low heat for 40-50 minutes. Then stir in cooked beans and pasta and cook until the pasta is done. Season with salt and pepper.

for the bread:
250 g strong flour
7 g salt
25 ml olive oil
10 g yeast
230 ml water
30 g sun dried tomatoes
2 twigs fresh oregano
1 teaspoon durum wheat

Sift flour into a bowl, sprinkle salt somewhere on the side and make a mold in the middle of the flour. Crumble yeast into the mold and pour lukewarm water over it and start to work the ingredients together. Then add olive oil and knead a smooth dough. Let it rise for an hour. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Cut dried tomatoes in small cubes and mix it with the fresh oregano leaves and knead it into the dough. Form a long bread, brush with water and sprinkle the top with durum wheat. Pour about 250 ml water into the hot oven and bake the bread for about 30 minutes.