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Thursday, September 11, 2014

Garlic Herb Pull Apart Bread

Bread baking had never been my cup of tea until I tried my hand at foccacia. Home-made warm bread is a delight for a dinner with soup. I made this aromatic bread the other day for dinner to go with my Vegetable Soup. This pull-apart bread is quite a process, the slicing and stacking of the layers, but it is worth the effort when your kitchen is filled with this beautiful aroma of bread baking in the oven.



Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from here
All purpose flour / Maida - 2-3/4 cups + 1/4 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
Water - 1/2 cup
Milk - 3/4 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp
Active dry yeast - 2 tsp
Butter - 2 tbsp
For the filling:
Extra virgin olive oil - 1/4 cup
Garlic - 5 cloves, minced
Coriander leaves / Cilantro - 1/4 cup, tightly packed
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - 1/4 tsp

Method:
Warm the water and milk in a Microwave-proof bowl for about 60-80 seconds. Dissolve sugar and yeast in the milk mixture and mix well. Let the yeast bloom, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile whisk the flour, salt and garlic well with a whisk. Pour the yeast mixture over the flour and mix with the whisk until the dough comes together. Knead well to form a ball, dusting flour as required. Knead for 5 minutes, form into a ball and apply oil all over. Place in a well-oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel. Now place it in a warm place for about an hour or two until it doubles in volume. 
Grease a loaf tin with oil. Pulse the garlic and cilantro in a blender for a couple of times. Gently warm 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil in a pan. Remove the pan and add the crushed garlic and cilantro mixture. Set aside to cool. Dust the rolling board or the countertop with flour. Punch the dough down and roll it into a rough 12"x12" square. Apply the garlic olive oil mixture all over the rolled out dough with a brush. 
Cut the rolled dough into 6 equal strips. Arrange the strips one over the other, with the filling side facing up. Cut the arranged strips again into 6 pieces, to form 2" square pieces. Arrange the pieces in the greased loaf tin. Cover with a damp towel and allow it to rise again, for about 30 minutes. In the last 10 minutes of the proofing time, preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake the bread for about 35 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature. Can be stored in room temperature for 2 days, wrapped in plastic wrap.

5 comments:

  1. Lovely and delicious looking pull apart bread. Excellent preparation.
    Deepa

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hard to resist to this prefectly baked pull apart bread.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Right when I was toying with the idea of something to bake, I chance upon this yummy looking bread...will try!

    ReplyDelete

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