Simple Measure

I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making a new bread ever since my Thanksgiving dinner rolls. Instead a deluge of Christmas and birthday baking has kept my KitchenAid humming and me too scattered to invest half a day in baking bread. But the results are totally worth the effort, as I remembered last night when I pulled a freshly made loaf out of the oven.

I had wanted to make a lean, chewy, crusty bread like ciabatta. Or maybe a thin Neapolitan style pizza. Something that would easily incorporate cheese because Erin and I have been craving that kind of bread lately. But during a perusal of my recipes it seemed like my kitchen was lacking a few items necessary to that kind of bread’s success, such as a pizza stone or even a good pan I could use for steaming up the oven. Back in Vermont I had those things, but so much of my kitchen gear was jettisoned to get ready for our move to Chicago that I was lucky to end up with even one box of stuff. So I filed those recipes away, and instead decided on one that could easily be created in my kitchen.

I chose a bread called Casatiello, which is a savory Italian version of brioche. The original recipe calls for salami and a good melting cheese like cheddar or gouda. I had no problem choosing the right cheese for the job. I decided on a 2 year Grafton cheddar that was mellow and creamy. But finding the right substitute for salami gave me a pause. I wanted the savory contrast in flavor and texture that the salami gives to this bread, yet I didn’t want to use any of the soy substitutes that were suggested in the recipe. Though smoked tofu is lovely on its own, I don’t want to find nuggets of it in my bread.

Jereme was the one who suggested that I use sundried tomatoes, and I must say that sometimes you need someone around who doesn’t think about food all the time to give you that little nudge in the right direction. Sundried tomatoes are an excellent choice for this bread because the bright and earthy flavor is distinctive enough to provide just the right savory note.

The resulting bread was soft and buttery with a moist crumb. The cheese incorporated evenly into the whole loaf except around the crust, where it formed kind of a flaky pocket that was absolutely delicious. Considering the addition of sundried tomatoes, this bread might benefit from an herb thrown into the mix, like rosemary or basil — something to try next time.

Casatiello is a rich bread, so I served it with a simple soup and salad. I think it might do best at a holiday table or a potluck where you want to knock everyone’s socks off.

Casatiello
From the “Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart

One note on the sundried tomatoes: I used the kind that are ready to use and sealed in a plastic bag. I chose not to use the kind packaged in oil because then I would have to reduce the amount of butter in order to keep the correct fat ratio.

This bread is made using a wet pre-ferment called a sponge, which is dough that has “been fermented in advance and added to another dough as part of a building process.” Thank you, Mr. Reinhart. This improves the flavor and texture of the final product. I look at it as kind of a flavor kick-start for the bread.

Sponge:

1/2 cup (2.25 oz) unbleached bread flour

1 Tbs (.33 oz) instant yeast

1 cup whole milk, lukewarm (90 to 100 F)

Dough:

3.5 oz sundried tomatoes, diced

3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour

1 tsp (.25 oz) salt

1 Tbs (.5 oz) sugar

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

3/4 cup (6 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup (6 oz) coarsely grated cheddar cheese

1. To make the sponge, stir together the flour and yeast. Whisk in milk to make a pancake-like batter. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour. This will ferment the sponge.

2. To make the dough, stir together the flour, salt, and sugar with a spoon in your electric mixer’s bowl. Add eggs and the sponge. Mix with your mixer’s paddle attachment on low speed until the ingredients form a coarse ball. Mix for one more minute. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. This will allow the gluten to develop. Divide the butter into 4 pieces,then work the butter into the dough one piece at a time at medium speed. The dough will be soft, but not a batter. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula, and continue mixing for 4 minutes. Then switch to the dough hook. The dough will change from sticky to tacky, and should clear the sides of the bowl.

3. Add sundried tomatoes, and mix until they are incorporated evenly. Mix in the cheese. The dough will be soft, stretchy, and tacky — but not sticky. Thinly coat a large bowl in oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl, being sure to roll it around so it gets coated with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

4. Leave the bowl at room temperature to ferment. This should take about 90 minutes, or until the dough increases in size by at least 1 and 1/2 times.

5. This dough will make either one large 9 by 5 loaf or two 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 loaves depending on what pans you have. I made a mistake and put all of the dough into a pan that I thought was 9 by 5, but it must have been smaller because it definitely filled it up. I baked it like that, and the bread came out fine, but next time I will try dividing the dough into two loaves and see how that comes out.

Mist the pan with spray oil. Lightly dust your hands and the dough with flour and shape into a loaf. Stretch and flatten the dough until it forms a rough 5 by 8 rectangle. Roll up the short end and pinch the seam closed. Continue rolling and closing the seam until the dough is completely rolled up. Place into the prepared pan seam side down. Mist the top of the dough with oil and cover the pans with plastic wrap.

6. Proof for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the dough rises just above the sides of the pan.

7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Set the rack to the lower third of the oven.

8. Place the pan in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Then rotate the pan 180 degrees. Bake for another 20 to 30 minutes — or until the dough is golden brown on top.

9. Remove bread from the oven. Carefully take it out of its the bread pan and transfer to a cooling rack. Let the bread cool for a minimum of one hour.