Michael's "Filled" Bread
This is a kind of bread that Michael made (taught to us by Anne Clark) that has olives, cheese, and carmelized onions baked into it. It is SO delicious. He's made a bunch of loaves since this first one...and it's been a hit everywhere we've taken it. People are even suggestion Michael should make some to sell! It's so yummy and flavorful, it's practically a meal all on its own.
posted by Rebekah at 8:54 PM
2 Comments:
In Nice, I learned, bread with cheese, olives, and fried onions is called a "minette" or "petite minette" and is great for taking hiking up into the hills. Those are kalonji, or nigella, seeds sprinkled on top - good for what ails ya, and tasty, too!
On August 16th I sold a petite minette like this to Deidre at l'Escuela for 1300 colones (a little over 2 dollars). I had to charge so much only because the costs of cheese (about 600 colones per loaf) and olives (about 400 colones per loaf) are so high. I could sell a plain (white or whole wheat, with or without kalonji seeds) for 400 colones. But to save everyone the expense, here is the recipe, "As simple as can be," according to Ann Clark:
You will need a mixing bowl in which to mix and let rise the dough; a mixing spoon (wooden preferably); a spatula with which to ease out the dough; and a receptacle such as a Dutch oven, with a cover and which you can put in the oven. Ann uses a round Le Creuset pot devoted uniquely to baking her bread; I use an old aluminum pressure cooker from which I unscrewed the wooden handles. There was no rubber seal around the lid, and the pressure release gasket seems to be of brass rather than rubber, and though perhaps it lets out some steam during cooking, it seems to work just fine. The baking process is split into two steps: basically 30 minutes at 450 F covered, to steam the bread; then 30 minutes uncovered at same temperature.
Here's the recipe I learned with Ann:
In bowl, combine
4 1/2 cups white flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
Dissolve 1/4 teaspoon dry yeast in 1 cup cold water, add to flour and salt in bowl; add 1 more cup of cold water.
Mix with spoon, cover and let sit overnight. Ann covered her batch with plastic wrap; here in Monteverde where plastic wrap, unlike oranges and lemons, does not grow on the nearby trees, I use a plate.
In general, the first rise takes 24 hours.
When the bread has risen the first time, stir it back down. Let rise for about 4 to 6 hours.
Heat oven to 450 degrees F for about 30 minutes, with the covered baking receptacle inside the oven.
Take out baking pot, and without burning hands or fingers, remove the lid. Sprinkle corn meal on the bottom (I use masa since it is easier to come by here), and then with the spatula, gently ease the bread dough into the pot. Cover, and put back into oven.
Let cook, covered, at 450 F for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, take off lid, and put back into oven, uncovered, for another 30 minutes.
Here at altitude, I have been cooking for 40 minutes and 40 minutes, and reducing the temperature so that it hovers around 425. I have also had to reduce the porportions, simply because our mixing bowl is not large enough to allow a dough made with 4 1/2 cups of flour to rise. The proportions I use are now
3 1/4 cups flour
7 ml salt (slightly less than 1 1/4 teaspoons)
1 1/2 cups water
slightly less than 1 ml (somewhat less than 1/4 teaspoon) dry yeast
I have also found that adding the yeast directly to the flour and salt, without first dissolving it in cold water, makes the bread rise faster, in about 20 hours; the second rise is about 4 hours, and so I can make a loaf every 24 hours.
I have also made loaves with 2 1/4 cups white flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour. The dough rises faster, and I also bake it at a lower temperature, about 400 F for 45 minutes covered, then 35-40 minutes uncovered. Even though the whole wheat flour here is very coarse, the bread turns out dense, but soft, airy, and spongy, with a nice hard crust.
For the petite minette, I fry sliced onions in a little bit of olive oil, let cool, grate cheese and slice pitted black olives (niçoises would be best, but they are few and far between in Monteverde), and add everything to the second stirring, for the second rise, of an all white-flour dough. Ann says, however, that you could stir in everything at the first stirring. For that authentic Orientalist sabór, sprinkle the kalonji (nigella seeds) on after easing the dough into the pot.
I have also made chocolate bread, by adding dark chocolate (melted in a double boiler with a bit of coffee) to the second stirring of an all white-flour dough in which I added a few teaspoons of sugar and less salt. No nigella.
Enjoy!
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