Parmesan Bubble Bread

Here's the recipe for the bread my sis reviewed along with the Italian meatball soup a couple days ago (click for that post). I found half a bag of unbaked frozen rolls while cleaning out the freezer and wondered how to use them up besides just baking Dave and I a batch of random rolls hahaha. Bubble bread came to mind, I've made pull-apart monkey bread in the past but this one is a little different - I didn't really follow a recipe so all amounts are just to your taste or what you have on hand. 

Let the frozen rolls thaw enough to shape them but the dough is still cold. Cut in half and roll in smaller balls. Roll each ball first in melted butter, and then in grated parmesan mixed with chopped cooked bacon, garlic powder, and a little pepper. Place in a baking dish, cover with a kitchen towel; let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour. Preheat oven to 350', bake rolls until golden brown about 20-25 minutes. 

Here's her review in case you missed it the other day:

the bread she sent was fantastic.  I could just eat it .. and eat it.. and eat it. 

Whatever is sprinkled on the top was GREAT.  My only negative comment is that they were in tiny little circles (all stuck together) so I had to break off a piece to eat it. That made me feel bad when I scarfed the first one and took a second.  Like I was eating a second roll.  In my defense the first one was tiny… 

Anyway.. the rolls were yum. 

Focaccia Tiles

I made this for Thanksgiving along with the crescent rolls (click here for that post) and forgot to show you how it turned out. At first I thought this was a "fail" because I baked it too long, but turns out it still tasted good and is pretty so I'll pass the recipe along if you want to try it. As usual it's much easier to make than I anticipated, yeast bread is still intimidating to me but the more I make it the more I realize it's pretty easy.

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• warm water
• olive oil
• toppings such as toasted pumpkin seeds, oil-packed dried tomatoes, pitted olives, thinly sliced limes, and/or thinly sliced roma tomatoes
• seasonings such as smoked paprika, ground cumin, oregano, or sea salt

1. In large bowl combine 3 cups of the flour, the yeast, and salt. Add 1 2/3 cups warm water (120' to 130'F). Stir until all is moistened. The mixture will be a soft, sticky dough. Cover and let stand at room temperature 12 to 24 hours.

2. Line a 15x10x1" baking pan with parchment paper. Brush parchment with olive oil. With a fork, stir remaining 1 cup flour into the dough. Turn dough out into prepared pan. Using well-oiled hands or a rubber spatula, gently push dough into pan (dough will be sticky). Loosely cover; let rest for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until puffy.

3. Preheat oven to 400'. Using a sharp, floured knife, score dough into 6 portions. Gently press desired toppings into surface of dough. Brush lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with desired seasonings. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.

4 Transfer to wire rack. Cut into 6 tiles. Serve warm.

Makes 6 tiles, 12 servings. each serving 212 cal, 6g fat.

Prep: 20 min.

Rise: 1 hour

Bake: 30 minutes

Stand: 12 hours

Before baking. Next time I will put way more seasonings on!
And don't bake it so long - watch for it to just start to turn
golden brown. Oh, and I scored mine into 8 squares so I could
try more toppings!

Georgian Cheese Bread

This recipe has been in my file of things I want to try at some point since I ripped it out of a Gourmet magazine in 2008, 'bout time I made it! Made this to go with the Chicken Marsala Sunday Supper (click here for that post) and it was excellent. Yes, it's a yeast bread and yes, that always seems hard and intimidating to me too - but it's easy!! I followed the recipe exactly (surprise!) and the only change I will make in the future (other than making a double batch that is) is to season the top with salt and pepper (or any spices that sound good) after brushing it with butter right before it's finished baking. That might not make it "Georgian Cheese Bread" anymore but it would taste really good.

one big ball of cheese goes in the center, gather the dough up around it and
then roll it out so the cheese get's distributed thru out.

before baking cut an x in the top

I'm surprised to find that the recipe is online in Gourmet's archives - click here to go to the original source (I copied and pasted the recipe for you below).

But first watch this short video of what happens when Janis offers to slice the bread with my pizza cutter :)

YIELD

Makes 1 (11-inch) pie; serves 8

ACTIVE TIME

30 min

TOTAL TIME

4 hr

INGREDIENTS

1. • 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (a 1/4-ounce package)
   • 7 tablespoons warm water (105-115°F)
   • 1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
   • 3/4 teaspoon salt
   • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
   • 1/4 pound Havarti cheese, coarsely grated
   • 1/4 pound salted mozzarella, coarsely grated
   • 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, melted
2. Equipment:
   • a floured pizza pan (at least 12 inches) or a floured large baking sheet
3. PREPARATION

1. 1. Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir in 1 tablespoon flour. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. (If yeast does not activate, start over with new yeast.)
   2. Stir together salt and remaining flour in a large bowl, then stir in egg and yeast mixture to form a dough.
   3. Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and turn to coat with flour, then knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form into a ball and dust with flour. Let dough rest in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap, punching down with a wet fist every hour, at least 2 hours and up to 3.
   4. Preheat oven to 500°F with rack in middle.
   5. Turn out dough onto floured pizza pan, turning to coat, then flatten with your fingers into a 7-inch disk.
   6. Toss together cheeses and press into a compact 3-inch ball with your hands. Place ball in middle of dough, then gather dough up around ball of cheese, squeezing excess dough into a topknot. Press down on topknot with a damp fist to press cheese out from center. Continue to flatten dough and distribute cheese evenly, pressing outward from center, until dough is an 11-inch disk.
   7. Cut a 6-inch X through top of dough to expose cheese. Bake until pale golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Brush surface of dough with butter and bake until golden and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes more.
   8. Serve cut into wedges.

Cooks' note:

• Dough can be made 1 day ahead and chilled in bowl (for a slow rise), covered with plastic wrap. Punch down and bring to room temperature before proceeding with recipe.

Crescent Rolls

Here's the recipe for the rolls I made to take to Thanksgiving dinner - I wasn't sure if I loved them but then they got such rave reviews I've decided to keep the recipe and will make again for sure. These are quite easy to make and didn't take nearly as long as I thought - I made them the day before thinking they'd need more time but after reading the directions thru I see that they only need 3 hours start to finish so next time I'll make them the same day and time it to bake them shortly before dinner is ready so they'll be hot and fresh. Apparently they were an even bigger hit for breakfast the next morning!

This recipe is from howdoesshe.com, I printed their recipe below but click here if you want to see their step by step directions.

proofing the yeast

super sticky wet dough

let it rise, then split into 4 equal sized rounds

roll out to an approx 12" - 14" circle 

let 'em rise again for about 30 minutes before baking. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons yeast
• 2 cups of warm water
• about 9-10 cups of all purpose flour
• at least 1 cup of butter

Instructions

1. Scald 1 1/2 cups of milk, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of butter, in a microwave safe bowl, for about 2 minutes. Cutting the butter into pieces helps it melt faster. There will probably be some little cubes of butter still floating in the hot mixture, they will melt.
2. add yeast to this hot mixture, but it will be too hot to just dump the yeast straight in (it would kill it!). To cool it down stir in 1-2 cups of flour, then add 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of salt, and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, in a measuring cup dissolve 2 Tablespoons of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Let it sit for a couple of minutes until it is bubbly.
3. Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not boiling and add the yeast mixture!
4. Using a fork or wooden spoon, gradually stir in 9-10 cups of flour (counting the flour you have already added to cool it earlier). I would recommend only adding 2 cups at time and stirring in between. These rolls turn out so much better when they are mixed by hand.
5. At the end the dough will be dense and sticky, and may be hard to stir, you can use your hands to incorporate the rest of the flour if needed. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it rise.
6. When your dough is close to raising completely, butter 2 cookie sheets and set them aside.
7. Let the dough raise until it has doubled in size.
8. Cover your working space with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Dump your dough out and divide it into 4 balls. Eyeball the sizes, then lift them up and feel the weight of each ball. Try to make them even, but they don’t have to be perfect.
9. Using one ball of dough at a time: roll the dough into a circle on a floured counter. Once it is rolled out spread the top with butter from edge to edge. You will use about 2 Tablespoons per circle of dough.
10. Cut the dough into quarters using a pizza cutter.
11. Then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. You should end up with 12 triangles from each circle of dough.
12. Roll the dough starting with the wide end of the triangle
13. Tuck the tail of the triangle under the roll and place it on the buttered cookie sheet. You will make 3 rows, with 8 rolls per row. This will give you 24 rolls per pan. Two balls of dough will fill 1 pan. You will get a total of 48 rolls!
14. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pans of rolls in a warm place (on top of the oven if possible) to let them rise. Once they are touching and full in size, cook (one pan at a time) in the oven ’till they are golden brown. About 10 – 15 minutes, It may take longer depending on how hot your oven cooks. Keep a close eye on your first pan to get the right time for the second.
15. While they are still hot and fresh out of the oven run a stick of butter over the tops of the rolls for a delicious buttery glaze.