Oozing cheese, herbed tomato and fresh bread, it really doesn't get better than this. A recipe which is easy to share, pairs well with Italian food and wine. One of my personal favourite recipe, Tomato & Mozzarella Pull Apart Bread. You can try new fillings with this recipe too. Once I made Buffalo and Cream Chicken feeling and it came out exceptionally well. Here are a few tips which will help you to learn about yeast. I use Active Dry Instant Yeast. Water: Only use Warm Water when trying to activate yeast. Both hot and cold water will kill the yeast. Use Lukewarm Water!Salt vs Sugar: Sugar helps the yeast to activate, to make it frothy and to give a better rise. Whilst, salt is the opposite, it's an anti-agent. Salt should only be incorporated in the dough towards the final stages of it. Proofing: YES IT REQUIRES PATIENCE! You need to find a warm place, a Switched Off oven is the best place to proof your bread. In areas where it's generally cold or during Winters, it will take longer to proof say about a little bit more than an hour. But during Warm Climate or/and Humid Weather, it will take relatively shorter, close to around 40 minutes.
Equipment
- oven
- Stand Mixer (Optional)
- Weighing Scale
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 280 gms Flour
- 5 gms Salt
- 150 ml Water
- 10 gms Yeast
- 7 gms Sugar
- 2 gms Gluten
- 2 gms Bread Improver
- Olive Oil as Required
For the Filling
- 200 gms Tomatoes, blanched de-skinned & chopped, Canned Tomatoes
- 15 gms Oregano (1 tbsp)
- 15 gms Celery, finely chopped (1 tbsp)
- 20 gms Garlic, finely chopped
- 40 gms Leeks or Onions, finely chopped
- 15 ml Olive Oil
- Salt to Taste
- Crushed Black Pepper to Taste
- 10 gms Chilli Flakes
- 5 gms Sugar
- 5-6 Fresh Basil Leaves
Instructions
- Start by making the filling. Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
- In a baking tray add tomatoes + oregano + celery + garlic + leeks + olive oil + salt + pepper + sugar and mix everything well.
- Char in the oven for 15 minutes. Mix with basil once cool.
- For the dough, start by mixing Yeast, Sugar and bit of Water and let it rest to Froth.
- Mix all your dry ingredients and add the Yeast-Sugar mixture to it. Start Kneading. Keep adding the water gradually and keep kneading.
- Add in your olive oil and salt till you get a smooth and shiny texture in your in dough. Knead till it forms a tight ball.
- Divide your dough in 40 grams and stuff the cheese and tomato mixture in the dough and form a ball. You should get 8 such kind of dough balls.
- Repeat the stuffing process for all 8 dough balls.
- Place it in grease round tin or a tin of your choice
- Leave it to proof , once proofed brush it with some milk wash
- Bake the proofed bread in a preheated oven of 175 degree C for 20 mins
- Once baked brush it with some herb butter or plain butter and serve it hot.
Video
Closing Note
This was the recipe for Gourmet Pull-Apart Bread. You can go beyond this as well and fusion it up by changing the fillings.
You can also fill it with Vada Pao potato mixture as well. The bread has no limits just like the sky!