The Fresh Loaf

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Méteils au Bleu

SumisuYoshi's picture
SumisuYoshi

Méteils au Bleu

Baked Méteils au Bleu

This recipe comes from Pierre Nury via Daniel Leader's Local Breads, this is the second recipe I've made from the book (and it went a lot better than the first, which I still need to write up). I picked this recipe because it looked like it would make cute little loaves, and one of my friends is a fan of blue cheese. It had also been a while since I made a bread with a significant amount of rye flour, and that one turned out a bit brick like. I had some trepidation starting this recipe because I had heard of many errors in the book (and experienced some of them in the first bread I made), but I didn't notice any glaring errors in this recipe.

This recipe is built on a stiff levain, which I definitely prefer, seem to get better results from it, and I already keep a stiff levain so no conversion needed. Once you have the starter build for the recipe you mix the bread flour (55%) and fine ground rye flour (45%) with the water and let the mixture autolyse for 20 minutes. After the autolyse the small portion of starter is incorporated into the dough and the salt sprinkled on top and kneaded in.

Flours and Water for Méteils au Bleu

Autolysed Dough and Starter

Sea Salt

Méteils au Bleu Dough

Méteils au Bleu Dough ready to rise

This was a dense and very sticky dough to knead, thanks mostly to the rye flour I would imagine. The new (large) cutting board I got to handle dough on seems to help make the sticky doughs easier to handle than the plastic mat I used previously though, I was able to get this dough kneaded well enough with minimal flour use. I wasn't expecting a huge rise with the dough, both from comments seen online and experience with how my starter likes to rise, and it was good I wasn't expecting much!

Risen Méteils au Bleu Dough

I couldn't find the cheese called for in the recipe locally so I picked out an interesting looking selection at my local Whole Foods, Hook's Cheese Company Blue Paradise:

Hook Cheese Company Blue Paradise

It was a little tricky getting the 4 separate pieces of dough evenly sized because the dough was so sticky! A little dusting of flour to control that stickyness for weighing and I got my 4 roughly equal pieces, and preshaped them into little rectangles (it called for squares, but the dough didn't want to go that way). Each of the 4 got stuffed with cheese, rolled up into little loaves, and put in the loaf pans. I was initially surprised that this recipe calls for scoring before proofing, but I guess that helps it to open up a bit more to make a cavity for the cheese you place on top.

Preshaped Dough for Méteils au Bleu

Shaped Méteils au Bleu

Slashed Méteils au Bleu

When it came time to bake, I changed up the instructions a bit. I preheated the oven to 500, used nearly boiling water instead of ice cubes, and then turned the heat down to the suggested temperature as soon as the loaves were in the oven (the ice cubes just don't work so well for me). These loaves smelled really great as they were baking!

Baked Méteils au Bleu

Méteils au Bleu Crumb

After they had cooled a little bit, I brought one out to show the person I had baked them for more intending just that he could see and smell it, but it must've smelled really good because he took a big bite out of it! It was really good warm out of the oven like that, I also made a few slices into crostini the other day, topped them with pesto and chicken!

Comments

LindyD's picture
LindyD

I agree these are lovely and tasty treats for lovers of blue cheese.  They also freeze very well.

You made a wise decision in skipping the ice cubes.  Ice cubes just rob heat from the oven since the heat has to melt them and convert them to steam.  That technique is passé.

Your friend is lucky!

M2's picture
M2

lovely!  We just bought some fancy blue cheese to try out but we don't really like the taste.  Incorporating it into the bread seems to be a fantastic idea! 

I can't find fine rye flour locally.  There seems to be just one type of rye flour available, i.e. RYE FLOUR ;).  I'll give it a try.

Thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures!

Michelle

SumisuYoshi's picture
SumisuYoshi

I'm not the biggest fan of blue cheese, but the flavor went really well with the rye, quite delicious little loaves. Really pretty easy to make too. Yeah, I just tend to ignore the ice cube suggestion in recipes, I've tried it before and it does more to humidify the oven than steam it...

Michelle, as long as it isn't too coarsely ground rye it should work. Just hope it isn't white rye, so you can get some more of that great rye flavor! And perfect use of blue cheese you aren't loving, melted in and combined with the bread it should be tastier.

Noel

LoganK's picture
LoganK

but divided the dough and used half for the golden raisin and pistachio variation in the book.  I'm not crazy for blue cheese, and so was just ok with those loaves (luckily others around me didn't feel the same way, so they didn't go to waste).  The raisin and pistachio, however, was fantastic.  Half of one of those little loaves with butter made a fine breakfast for a few days.

SumisuYoshi's picture
SumisuYoshi

I'll have to try that next time, I think I'd probably prefer the golden raisin and pistachio version too!

M2's picture
M2

 

Based on Leader's recipe and inspired by Noel's success story, I gave it a try.  I had some troubles getting the dough to rise to double (even after 3 hours of  fermentation as the book suggests), so I put the dough container on top of the floor furnace register...and the dough rised right away.  However, I won't do it again.  Why?  When I flipped the dough out, the bottom half of the dough seemed to be overproofed. 

And, I made a second mistake...since I don't have the mini loaf pan, I divided the dough into 2 smaller loaves and put them in the 8'' loaf pans.  I think the pan was too big.  The dough spread out and I ended up having two short loaves.

The texture of the bread and the taste are great.  The blue cheese that I used was very pungent and the smell permeated the entire house.  We have to open the windows to get some fresh air ;) 

 

SumisuYoshi's picture
SumisuYoshi

Yeah, mine never really did rise a whole bunch but I decided not to even worry because loaves made with my starter generally get so much oven spring, and it turned out that way for these too. I think the mini loaf pans probably also help the loaf rise a little higher than it would in a larger pan, more support from the sides since the loaf is smaller.

Glad you like the bread!