The Fresh Loaf

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Some Spice Breads – One Sweet and One Savory

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Some Spice Breads – One Sweet and One Savory

A drizzly weekend seemed like a good time to fill the house with the aroma of spices.   It started out with the need to replenish our supply of Cinnamon-Raisin-Walnut Bread, my Number One Bread Fan’s favorite.  Then, I wanted to bake something really special to take to our friends’ new house for a pre-dinner snack and cocktail.   I settled on making a second attempt at the Cheese-Curry-Onion Bread from The Cheese Board Collective’s cookbook.

Cinnamon

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Peter Reinhart’s Cinnamon-Raisin-Walnut Bread may be the bread I’ve baked more times than any other.  It’s a real treat every time.  I usually use a mix of walnuts and pecans, and use butter in place of shortening.  And this time I decided to try it with 25% whole wheat flour, since we’ve been enjoying the flavor of whole grains lately.  Besides, we have declared that whole wheat makes this a health food, so we can eat it even more often without sugar-guilt.

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A well-balanced breakfast.

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Curry

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At the beginning of my baking education, I started on sourdough.  The first straight dough bread I made was the Cheese-Onion-Curry Bread from Berkeley’s Cheese Board Collective.  As I reported back in September, it is a bread with very special memories of my gradual school days in the ‘70s.  So when my wife--as if reading my mind-- gave me The Cheese Board Collective Works as a birthday present, I immediately tried to bake a batch of taste memory.  We loved it, and now six months later, I can’t believe I haven’t baked it since.  It was time.

In the interim, I’ve read a lot of recipes here at TFL and elsewhere that use cheese, onions and bacon in various combinations.  They usually make me drool.  I decided to vary the Cheese Board’s recipe a bit.  I used a combination of yellow onions and scallions, and I added some fried bacon (in our house, we call it Vitamin B), since almost everything with cheese and onions is better with bacon.

This bread is a complete meal.   You start with a simple yeast bread dough with curry powder and pepper.  Then add onions/scallions, chopped bacon and a full pound of cubed cheese.  I used a combination of Sharp Cheddar, Jarslberg and Gruyere. 

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The amount of chunky stuff in the dough makes it impossible to form a smooth-skinned boule, so the loaf flattens out some in baking, but holds together with some luck.  It's not a real pretty bread, but my, my, what flavor!

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The best part is the pockets of molten cheese interspersed with the strongly cheese and curry flavored moist and tender crumb.  I think the bacon flavor is barely noticeable, but my wife tells me it's there and it's good.  She suggests dialing back the curry a bit so the bacon flavor comes through more.  I may try that.

This is a recipe worth trying if you’re looking for a hearty meal in a loaf.  I highly recommend The Cheese Board Collective Works (http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=1580084192). It's got lots of recipes for breads and morning baked goods, too.

Here’s my variation on the recipe:

Cheese Scallion Bacon Curry Bread

(adapted from Cheese Onion Curry Bread in The Cheese Board Collective Works)

Ingredients

4 cups  Bread Flour  570g

1 ½ tsp Instant Yeast 5g

1 ½ tsp Black Pepper 3g

1 ½ Tbsp Curry Powder 4g

2 tsp Kosher Salt 12g

1 ¾ cups Lukewarm Water 400 g

6-8 slices Bacon, cooked and chopped

½ yellow onion plus  6 Scallions, chopped

1 pound Mixed Cheeses*, cut into ½ inch cubes 

Medium yellow cornmeal (for sprinkling)

1 Egg, beaten (for glaze)

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* Any firm flavorful cheeses will do.  I used a combination of sharp cheddar, Jarslberg and Gruyere.  If you don’t want molten pockets of cheese in the bread, you could grate the cheese.

 

Procedure

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, yeast, pepper, curry powder and salt.  Add water and mix until ingredients well combined.

Transfer to lightly floured board and knead until smooth and silky (10-12 minutes)

In a small bowl, toss onions and scallions with 1/2 Tbsp of flour and mix.

Flatten the dough to a one-inch thick disk and add scallions and bacon to the center.  Gather the dough around the scallions and bacon and knead to incorporate (2-3 minutes).

Again flatten the dough and add cheese in center.  Gather up the dough around the cheese and knead to incorporate.

Form the dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl large enough for dough to double.  Turn the dough to coat with oil.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cloth.  Let the dough rise until doubled (about 60-90 minutes at room temperature).

Sprinkle cornmeal on two baking pans.

When dough has doubled, place it on a lightly floured board and divide into three equal pieces.  Shape each as a loose boule, cover with a floured dish towel and let rest for 10 minutes. (Note: with the chunks of cheese, there’s no way to get a smooth taut sheath on the loaf.  Don’t sweat it).

Shape each ball into a boule and place on baking pans dusted with corn meal (I used parchment between the pan and the cornmeal).  Cover the loaves with a floured dish towel and let rise until increased in size about 50% (or use poke test).  This takes about 60-75 minutes at room temperature.

Pre-heat oven to 450F.

When loaves are proofed, brush with beaten egg and bake (Note: no need to slash and no need for steam).

After 10 minutes at 450F, lower temperature to 400F.  Rotate baking pans as necessary to achieve even browning.

Bake a total of 35 – 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Remove loaves to cooling rack.  Eat when not quite cool (45 minutes).

Enjoy!

Glenn

 

Submitting to Yeastspotting.

Comments

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Beautiful, Glenn.  Would you mind if I featured this on the homepage for a bit?

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Floyd--

My bread would be honored.  Thanks!

Glenn

Syd's picture
Syd

Lovley, Glenn.  These kind of filled breads (often cheese and ham or bacon) are popular here in Taiwan.  As you say, they are a complete meal themselves.

Syd

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

I guess it's sort of like a large mixed up bao, Syd. Thanks for the comment.

Glenn

CraigFromNewcastle's picture
CraigFromNewcastle (not verified)

Hi Glenn

 

Your Cinnamon - Raisin - walnut - bread looks fantastic, I love the swirl through it (intentional or not), I can imagine the taste of it with that lovely fruit.

 

I think your curry bread is fascinating, it looks beautiful on the outside, it's amazing how many things people can make with bread. 

 

I can't wait to try some of these interesting recipes.

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Thanks, Craig.

The swirl is intentional.  You roll out each dough ball, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, then roll it up like a jelly roll, fold the ends down and put it in the bread pan to proof.  It really enhances the flavor, and it looks nifty.  I'm not sure why this time my loaf separated so much at the swirl.  The loaf disappeared fast, though, before any complaints were heard.

Glenn 

CraigFromNewcastle's picture
CraigFromNewcastle (not verified)

Oh I definitely wouldn't complain with that, it looked lovely. 

I thought it was a swirl of dark chocolate at first, that would be good too :) 

Nah, it looks fab.

Well done.

Craig

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Very Nice, Glenn!! The first is beautiful! and the second is truly a meal.. Nice Work

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Glenn

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Your cinnamon swirl looks delicious as always and makes a lovely breakfast bread, which I've been very much into lately.   I love the combination of cheeses and green onions with bacon in your boule...I have to admit, I have never acquired a taste for curry powder and I'm sure that's my lose.  Tasty combo of cheeses, bacon and green onions.  Thanks for sharing your formula and Congratulations on the front page cover!  Very nicely done, Glenn!

Thank you for the reference for the the book!  It looks like a nice one to add to my collection, and I will order it soon.

I love the cheese stores we have here, I know I eat way to much cheese and Whole grain breads are delicious and healthy! As much as I love 100% 'grain' WW breads I try to resist because of the glycemic index being so high. 

Sylvia 

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Sylvia--

Thanks for the nice comment.  If you don't like Curry, I bet this bread would be good with other spices....or none.

I think you'll enjoy the book.  The Cheese Board is an institution in Berkeley's "Gourmet Ghetto", and their breads and sweets are famous.

Glenn

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Thanks, Glenn!

Sylvia

ehanner's picture
ehanner

You're preaching to the choir as my old mother used to say. I really enjoy a savory cheese bread. Yours looks delicious as well as the sweet one.

Did you use the T85 for this? It's getting close to St Patty's Day, time for a good savory bread and a dark beer.

Eric

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Eric--

I think it was one of your blog posts about putting bacon or sausage in  a cheese bread that got me thinking about this.  Thanks.

The whole wheat flour I used is another Central Milling product they call Organic Whole Wheat Hi-protein Fine flour.  Nicky Giusto highly recommended it for sandwich breads.  It has a very silky texture for a whole wheat.

Glenn

hanseata's picture
hanseata

I don't often bake savory breads (that can't be also eaten with jam), but yours looks very tempting. And, of course, you can never go wrong with bacon (I never ate much bacon before I came to the US).

The Cinnamon-Raisin-Walnut Bread is one of my favorites, too, though I bake the WGB version. I also made rolls with the dough. (And shortening should be banned, other than in flaky pastry).

Karin

 

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

I'm a pretty adventurous eater, but I can't see any sort of jam being good on this bread.

Glenn

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

It is good with cheese and, I imagine, with bacon.

Nice bakes, Glenn.

David

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

opened faced, and a cup o tea, please!

Sylvia

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Maybe the cheese bread made into french toast with a fried egg on top would be good. I may try that.  Or in a Strada!!

Glenn

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Sounds sweet!  I was thinking more along the lines of omlet or just a good old fried egg sandwich, egg salad sandwich, panini style. Eggs go so well with cheese, savory!  I'm ready for my breakfast :)

Sylvia 

hanseata's picture
hanseata

I wouldn't go so far - though my teenage son put nutella on cheese sandwich... (the same young man who inspired my research on the mysterious connection between the number of teenage sneakers in our hallway and diminishing liquor levels in my kitchen).

Karin

oceanicthai's picture
oceanicthai

Looks SO delicious!  Thanks for posting the recipe!

spsq's picture
spsq

haha!  ;)

porkdog324's picture
porkdog324

The curry bread is on its first rise as we speak... hope my yeast is okay :-0

Thanks for the recipe, Glenn

 

Brent

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Let us know how it comes out.

Glenn

porkdog324's picture
porkdog324

they turned out great!  can't eat them all, so will have to freeze the rest.