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

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.

A well-balanced breakfast.

Curry

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. 

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!

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

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