Parmesan Bread

Ever since I arrived to Italy, one of my favourites is focaccia. It basically is a grown pizza, but with more olive oil, rosemary and coarse grained salt. These flavours perfectly match in such a spongy douch with a bit of a cracky cover. It has been weeks that I have been trying to reproduce it unsuccesfully.
However, this curiosity has taken me to do some research on bread in general. The other day I tried nut bread and it was not very good either. Nonetheless, the recipe of today was one of the best surprises I have had ever since I started cooking.


It is very simple recipe if you have a kitchen robot, and quite simple if you dont. The only thing is that it takes a long prep time, as the dough has to rest for at least two hours. The results is great and visually appealing.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast


• 1 teaspoon of honey or sugar (i used honey)


• 2/3 cup warm milk


• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 Tbsp for sprinkling


• 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 3 large eggs


• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter


• 1 tablespoon water

1. Mix together yeast, honey, and 1/3 cup warm milk in a bowl and wait 5 min until foamy.(If mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast.)


2. Add to the mixture the flour, cheese, and salt, and the remaining 1/3 cup warm milk.


3. Beat in 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. This is where the kitchen robot would be handy.


4. Introduce the butter, and work the dough.


5. Make a ball in the center of the bowl and sprinkle with flour.


6. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise until doubled (2 hours).


7. Punch down dough (do not knead) and turn out onto a floured surface. Cut dough into 12 equal pieces of size of pool balls.


8. Arrange rolls 2 cms away one from each other in a buttered cake pan and cover with a kitchen towel. Let dough rise for 1 hour and a half.


9. The balls are risen and touching each other. Brush a whisked egg on top of the dough.


10. Cook it for 20-25 minutes at 180ºC

[caption id="attachment_279" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pan de Parmesano con Seta"][/caption]

Bon profit!