After a packed Thursday and Friday, I woke up on a early Saturday morning and found that I had nothing much to do. The boys were fast asleep, so I decided to surprise them with this Parmesan and Oregano Pull-Apart Bread when they woke up. “Is there a Pizza in the Oven” ? said Devon as soon as he was up… as there was a lovely aroma of freshly baked bread coming out from the kitchen.
I made a simple lunch of fish curry and rice…that’s up next folks; so watch this space.
So here you are…. Parmesan & Oregano Pull-Apart Bread……
Recipe :
Cheese - ½ cup grated
Oregano - 2 teaspoons
Garlic - 5 cloves-very finely minced/grated
Chillie flakes - 1 teaspoon
Butter (Melted) - ¼ cup
Flour (Plain) - 3-1/2 cups
1-1/4 cup - Milk (room temperature)
Sugar - 2 teaspoons
Yeast - 2 teaspoons
Olive Oil - 4 tablespoons
Garlic powder - 2 teaspoons
Salt - 1-1/2 teaspoon
Take a small bowl add milk sugar and yeast. Stir and keep it for 10 minutes till it is frothy. (This is important, if no froth or bubbles form, your yeast is faulty/expired – so either start again or change the yeast). Mix in olive oil after the yeast froths..stir and keep aside.
In another bowl, add the flour and the milk/yeast mixture. Stir in garlic powder and salt and knead till a soft dough is formed. If the dough is not soft…just wet your hands with a little water and knead till the dough is soft and elastic. (The texture is like chappati dough). Cover the kneaded dough with cling wrap and keep aside for 1-1-1/2 hour to rise.
In the meanwhile mix melted butter, herbs, chillie flakes and minced garlic and keep aside. Grate the cheese and keep aside.
When the dough has risen, punch it back and knead again. Then form lemon sized balls. Take a bundt pan (or if you don’t have one, take a normal round cake pan and keep an aluminium mug in the center) and grease it lightly with olive oil.
Dunk the balls one by one in the butter/herb mixture, lift with a fork, drain excess butter, and layer them in the bundt pan… don’t pack them too tightly – let there be some space in between. Sprinkle the grated parmesan cheese. Then put the second layer of dunked balls. When it is completed just flatten them so that the level is more/less same. Cover with a foil and keep aside for 10-15 minutes to rise just a bit.
Preheat oven to 175 deg. C /350 def. F. Bake for 30-40 minutes or till it is golden. When done, remove from oven and brush all over with remaining butter/herb mixture.
When done, you can pull each bread separately. Serve warm with tomato sauce or dip of your choice.
