Crescia al Formaggio from "The Bread Bible"
The weather is finally cooling off here in Phoenix and for my hubby and I that means one thing: picnic season has arrived! And with it, my favorite part, a reason to bake picnic breads.
I think I've had a fairly successful Crescia al Formaggio, although I'm not sure that the inside looks as it should. The bread was flavorful, even the sponge that the melted cheese didn't get to.
I'm looking for suggestions and feedback as to how the inside turned out. It tasted heavenly; even the crumb with no melted cheese was infused with the flavor of gruyere. Still, taste aside, I'm trying to learn technique. Should I have rolled it tighter? It was my first flute-pan bread, does that have something to do with it? Or is it just fine the way it is..? Any and all feedback welcome and appreciated, fellow bakers!
One concern I had was that my butter became soft and warm. This seemed to be OK after the first rise, however.
I did have some trouble getting the butter beaten into the dough, but ultimately it did seem to absorb it.
The recipe said to roll a 10" by 4" rectangle, but that didn't seem nearly large enough, so I got as close as I could without having to sacrifice cheesy goodness.
And here's the inside:
Nothing left to do but enjoy!
Comments
85 F all week this week. - we need to enjoy it while we can. Never made this bread before but from the crumb I would say to large grate the cheese like for a pizza and get it spread out with S & F's to get a more even crumb and distribute the cheese better. other than that it sure looks terrific. Well done and
Happy Baking
Thanks for the feedback, dabrownman, but what is S & F's....?
You gently stretch the dough out and then fold it over. It is used to develop gluten but I also use them to incorporate add ins like seeds, nuts, fruits and cheese etc. I do 4 of them from the 4 compass points as one set and then 15 minutes later do another set and the add ins are usually well distributed and the gluten developed too!