Cacio e Pepe Artisanal Loaf?
I'm the family member that bakes artisanal loaves, mostly I've used the Forkish method, I'm pleased with the resulting crust, and occasionally other styles such as cocodrillo, foccacia.
For T'Giving I was volunteered to try and make a Cacio e Pepe loaf, and artisanal loaf with small chunks of Parmigiano cheese and cracked black pepper, similar to the classic Roman pasta ( which actually uses Pecorino).
I done some research and any cheese bread recipe I've found either is a soft loaf with batter like dough or uses grated cheese. I want to use small cubes of Parm along with the cracked pepper.
I 'll be adding the cheese cut roughly into 1/4 cubes, along with the pepper, at the end of the dough mix, before the first rise.
I'm a little concerned about the rise with the cheese cubes, would it be wise to add some diastatic malt powder to help with the rise?
thanks,
Rob
Take a look at this recipe. It is for Prosciutto Bread with Provolone. You could sub diced parmesan for all the meats and just use cheese and extra pepper. Just a thought.
Prosciutto Bread with Provolone (forumotion.com)
Cubes not recommended - shaved or shredded better. Enjoy!
I like this idea and might also try it this week. I make Cacio e Pepe regularly and these flavours should work since you are basically replacing the pasta with bread. Maybe toast the cracked pepper in butter first in a hot pan to release its flavour, as per the pasta recipe, and then strain, although maybe then the pepper would be slippery and more likely to push out of the dough. I have had good luck with cheese cubes, in a smoked Bavarian cheese and saucisson sec sourdough, which is a nice combination. I use cubes of both, which I prefer as you get pockets of flavour in the bread rather than a uniform flavour throughout the bread. I have added everything at the start of stretch and fold, that works well. A few will inevitably push out, but that's fine and it is nice having a few exposed to the heat during the bake, they will become crusty and tasty. With cheese I think it is always a bit of an unknown how one type of cheese will behave during the back compared to another, especially with harder cheeses. I would think the Parm will be nice but who knows as it is not a great melter, might possibly dry out (found that the Bavarian cheese did dry out a fair bit during the bake, and that is a creamier cheese, but it was still very nice). I have had no issues with dough rising as per usual when stuffed full of cubes of meat, cheese, olives, etc., in the past. But I have also added them in the final shaping stage too, folding the dough over a pocket of cubes. They will be more central in the bread but they do tend to distribute themselves somewhat during the proof and bake.