Adding cheese on top...?
Adding cheese on top...? If there's anything I love as much as bread it's cheese.
I've made several recipes where cheese is mixed into the dough, and that is simple enough. But my wife and I were out Christmas shopping today and we stopped for lunch at Panera. I asked to replace my customary chunk of baguette with a piece of their Asiago demi, and it reminded me of bagels I used to get with cheddar baked on top so thick it covered up the hole. This got me to thinking...
When is the best time to add cheese to the top of a loaf? The slash in the demi was wide open and well-developed underneath the cheese, so I'm guessing that the cheese is tossed over the loaf toward the end of the bake, after the crust is set. Plus, I figure that 30-40 minutes at regular baking temperatures would not only turn fat-rich cheese to cinders, but set off the smoke alarm as well - so putting it on at the beginning seems like a mistake.
Anybody have any suggestions giving a loaf a cheesy top coat?
I like cheese bread as well and I add the cheese in the proofing basket and then put the shaped loaf on top. I bake for 10 minutes at 425˚F and then reduce to 375˚F for the rest of the bake. As long as you turn the temp down around the 10 minute mark I have no trouble with the cheese burning. I usually use either an old cheddar of a parmesan for this. For the cheese inside the loaf I cut whatever cheese we have into small pieces that I incorporate when forming the loaf. Last weekend I made two loaves and we had brie, fresh mozzarella and cheese curds so that is what was in the bread. Goat cheese (Chèvre) works really well because it has lots flavour for relatively small inclusions. Everyone that has was either been too polite to be critical or genuinely believed it was the best cheese bread they have had. I think by using quality cheese it tastes much better than bakery cheese bread where the cheese is usually bought because the price is right.
Gerhard
in my experience cheese on top from the beginning ends up going toward the bitter side of things if not burnt and crispy, I guess it depends what you what in the finish.. we do a bread with pecorino in it, 1cm to 1.5, not quite 2cm cubes roughly cut and mixed in the ones that make it to the outer edge are baked on to the crust, they dont burn exactly, unless theyre on the tray