Fans of chillies & cheese rejoice because I’ve got a real treat of a recipe for you! Pretty much the result of clearly growing far too many chillies this year than is good for me (it’s my first year growing with the polytunnel & I may have been a bit sow happy back in the spring). I would say that I’ve learned my lesson & that I won’t grow quite as many next year & yet I’ve had to much fun playing around with them in the kitchen & have come up with some definite keeper recipes that I know I’ll return to time & time again, this tear & share chilli cheese bread included!
Word of warning, this is one is highly addictive… a wonderful combination of pungent cheese, garlic, fiery chilli & carbs, it’s not hard to see why. At least the intention is there to share this with others, a simple yet effective folding & layering process makes for a striking looking loaf that you can simply pinch & tear slices from. This has got plenty of fire in it without overpowering the other flavours here but if you prefer a little more heat, add an extra chilli or two to the filling & maybe have some milk to hand.
TEAR & SHARE CHILLI CHEESE BREAD
(makes one 2lb loaf)
Ingredients:
For the bread dough:
- 350g strong white bread flour
- 7g dried fast-acting yeast
- 5g salt
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 200ml milk
- 50g butter
- 3 medium chillies, finely chopped
For the filling:
- 75g salted butter
- 100g parmesan, grated
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 medium chillies, finely chopped
To top:
- 3 tbsp chilli oil
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
Method:
- In a large bowl, combined the flour, yeast, salt & sugar
- Add the milk & butter to a small saucepan & gently heat until the butter has melted
- Make a well in the middle of the flour & pour in enough of the butter & milk liquid to form a dough (you may not need all of the mixture or may need a little more, start with two-thirds & keep adding more until the dough comes together, adding more milk if your dough seems a bit dry)
- Empty the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface & knead for 10 minutes (or 5 minutes if using a stand mixer with a dough hook) until it is smooth & elastic when stretched
- Put the dough back into the bowl, cover with clingfilm or a tea towel & leave to rise for about an hour, until it has doubled in size
- Once your dough has risen, tip it out onto a floured work surface & knock back the dough(knead out the air pockets)
- Next, devide the dough up into 12 roughly even sized pieces
- Now make the filling, add the butter, parmesan, garlic & chilli to a small bowl & beat together until well combined
- Taking one piece of dough at a time, flatten it out into a round disk shape
- Take a spoonful of the filling mixture & spread this over the flattened piece of dough
- Now, taking one side of the dough, fold it over on itself, encasing the filling & creating a semi circle shape
- Repeat this process with the rest of the dough
- Once you’ve filled all of the dough pieces, carefully arrange them in a lined 2lb loaf tin
- Cover the dough with a tea towel, or (my preference) place inside a large plastic bag & leave to prove for around 45 minutes – 1 hour hour, until doubled in size
- Once risen, bake the bread at 200C for 45 minutes, until golden brown
- Remove from the oven & whilst the bread is still warm, brush all over with the chilli oil before sprinkling over the sea salt flakes & leaving to cool
