Chorizo-Asadero Bread
Hi all,
This past weekend, I made Chorizo-Asadero Bread from The Homesick Texan cookbook. I enjoyed the recipe, but I would like to make some changes. Since I am a novice bread baker, I wanted to get some opinions from those of you!
The recipe is as follows (I plan to convert the recipe to all weight measurements, but have not done so yet):
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 4 tbsp butter (I think...may have been 5)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 3 cups AP flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 oz. Mexican chorizo, cooked
- 8 oz. Asadero cheese, grated
- 1 chipotle in adobo, diced
First, I added the yeast to water. Then, I melted the butter and then added the milk and egg. I then added that mixture to the yeast, along with the the flour and salt. I stired with a wood spoon and the dough remained very wet, so I added some additional flour. After kneading a relatively short time, I put the dough in an oiled bowl and left it 2 hours untl it doubled in size.
After two hours, I slowly incorporated about 4 ounces of the chorizo and about 3 ounces of asadero. Then, I shaped the loaf as a sandwich loaf and put it in a 9x5 loaf pan, and let it rise for about 2 hours, after which it had crested above the edges of the pan. I baked the bread for 35 minutes, and misted the oven at the beginning of the bake. When I took out the bread, its internal temperature was 190.
We really enjoyed the bread, but we found that it was too sweet. Do you think the sweetness is coming from the egg or the milk, or both? I would like to eliminate the sweetness and perhaps make the texture a little bit tougher, too. My thoughts for possible changes are as follows:
- Add more chorizo (definite change)
- Make half the flour KASL to improve texture
- Use water instead of milk (?)
- Eliminate egg (?)
What do you think? I only took one photo of the finished bread, but will post it later tonight. Thanks!
getting the fat out would be a good place to start. If you replaced the butter with non fat yogurt (a dairy), then you could replace the whole milk with water, non fat milk or non fat dry milk powder and probably leave the egg (more fat) in if you wanted to or take it out too and replace with half the egg weight in water since the dough was too slack anyway. If I made the other changes i think I would leave the egg in since Brownmen put eggs on everything it seems:-)
It sure sounds like a tasty recipe and a great breakfast burrito replacement with the cheese, chorizo and chipotle, I will be making this pretty soon. Can't wait to see the photos.
When I make breads like this I try and make them using my "pizza" dough, which is really just a french bread dough that I use Antimo Caputo flour in. It's more the method than anything. I mix the dough using ice water and a 30 minute autolyse. Then I fold in my ingredients, shape and refrigerate overnight for a long retarded ferment. I'll even keep it up to 3 days like this, using cured chorizo of course. Then before baking I let it come up to temperature and proof all the way. The texture is tender and chewy and the flavor really develops nicely without overproof under the long retarded fermentation.
It's pretty difficult to find antimo caputo flour, but you can use KA bread flour.
D
www.allthingswheat.com
Thank you both for your comments. They are helpful and I will definitely keep you updated the next time I try this bread. Here are two pictures - one of the finished loaf and one of the crumb.
Nice baking!
That bread looks great! I really like the wisps of cheesy goodness and chipotle peppers running through it. I'll bet it's really tasty too!
Thanks for sharing the recipe with us.
Linda
Thanks to both of you! The recipe called for putting 4 oz of the cheese in the bread and 4 oz on the top. I probably put about 3 - 3 1/2 in the bread and only 1 or 2 on the top. As you can see, I only sprinkled it lightly. I think if you used the full amount, it could be too much, but I suppose that is a matter of taste!
Also, FYI, I used only 1 chipotle pepper. When I make the recipe again, I will definitely use 2, as the bites with the bits of pepper were really delicious!