Is this the BEST mediterranean style bread?

I feel sorry for anyone who hasn’t tried inclusions in their breads… Maaaaan you are MISSING OUT!

I loaded these delicious loaves with:
smoked gouda (grated), parmesan cheese (grated), chopped sun dried tomatoes, sliced olives, dried oregano- and I am kicking myself that I didn’t add dried granulated garlic. It would have just elevated these loaves to oblivion. That one universally cherished ingredient… But alas, these taste buds will just have to wait until the next bake.

in case anyone is interested in the actual bread dough recipe, I will link the video in the cards once it’s live, or you can follow this written recipe here:
700 grams flour
560 grams water
14 grams of salt
5 grams yeast

for my levain, I combine the yeast, 200 grams of flour and 200 grams of water the night before and pop it into the fridge overnight. This becomes my pre-ferment, and the ingredients are taken from the main bulk written above. This will leave you with 500 grams of flour and 360 grams of water for the autolyse step.

combine 500 grams flour and 360 grams water and allow to rest for 1 hour.
mix in the salt and the levain until completely incorporated (about 5 mins) and then allow to rest for half an hour.

The rest is history 🙂 stretch it to an inch of its life for the lamination step, and add your desired ingredients.

I then performed stretch and folds every half hour 4 times before letting her sleep for 2 hours or until doubled in size. divide the dough into as many rolls as you like, pre-shape and rest for 15 to 30 mins, final shape, rest for an additional 30 mins and bake at 230 degrees Celcius for 20 mins if you are making two loaves like me, and lower the temp to 200 for the last 20 minutes or until nicely golden and the internal loaf temperature has reached 91 degrees C. Or if you have a refractory dome wood fire oven (which is what i cooked mine in), pop the bread in when the oven is at around 280 to 300 degrees C. I find this gives a wonderful oven spring and even bake. If you have a traditional brick oven, it will hold onto the temperature for a lot longer, so popping it into the oven closer to the 250 – 280 degree C mark would be best. Enjoy! xxx

In this video, we are going to be creating a loaf that has all these beautiful Mediterranean inspired inclusions. Step one though is after you have um order leaves and you’ve added your yeast, your next step then would be to allow it to rest for about half an hour and then laminate it. This is a process of running the dough as thin as you can before it creates any holes within the dough and then adding all these beautiful ingredients into the middle. So, this is smoked GA cheese that I’ve grated. On top of this, we’re adding some Parmesan cheese for that extra umami and salty flavor. On top of that, we have our olives. As if the salt wasn’t enough, but it works, I promise. And then some sundried tomatoes. If you have them at the shops where they’re not in oil, they’re just sundried and dry. That would be an ideal um one to go for only because then it won’t change the texture or add any extra oils unnecessarily. Then we have oregano and I didn’t add it in. I really wanted to and then I forgot. Um granules of dried garlic. Oh my lordy. That would have just made this the next level. But anyway, next one. For the next one, we are going to fold in those sides. Apply those ingredients one more time. and then fold it in into a bowl nice and taut. And we are going to allow that to double in size. Or you could do the um stretch and folds every half hour before you let it double in size, which is actually what I did. Um but if you want to take it easy, just let her double to about this stage. Flour your surface well with semolina and then divide it into as many loaves as you would like to make. I’m going to be filling in the 10 inch oval loaf tins. So, I’m going to make two of these babies. We are going to pre-shape them. Try to maintain as much air in there as possible. So, be super gentle with your loaf as you pre-shape it. Make it nice and tall. And then do the same with the other half. So, I’m going to create a somewhat rectangular shape. Fold in one side, roll it up, turn it onto its vertical end, and then roll that up again. collect any fallout ingredients and allow to rest for 15 to half an hour. So, 15 minutes to 30 minutes. After which, turn it upside down so that the dry skin is in contact with the table. We’re going to fold in one side, flip it around, fold the other side over, and then kiss those two sides together. Kind of pinching that dough so it sticks together. And then rolling it up on its hor um vertical end. Pinch the sides as well. Just make it nice and taut. And again, try to work as gently as possible to make sure that it doesn’t stick to my benitins. I’m rubbing it with my fine semolina flour and popping it inside my benitins, which you can see there is lined with rice flour. Pull the skin. Give it a pinch to make it even toter if that’s a word. And then what I’ve done is I have added paper towels that I’ve just dampened and I’ve laid those paper towels over the top of the bread. And that way while it rests the skin doesn’t dry out. And I’ve also laid a uh napkin over the top or a material cover. Add more simolina over the top. Place it upside down on a uh board. Flip it over. And now we are ready to score. You’ll want to take off any of that excess flour. I like to use a fresh razor for this. Give it a good 45° angle. Slice. I like to go in twice. Do the same for both loaves. And then you could spray it with water or you could add water into the actual oven. Maybe like a cup of boiling water to help create some steam for that beautiful oven spring and crunchy exterior. Wow, that’s nice. The crust speaks for itself. This was seriously such a delicious loaf of bread. My house smelled amazing. But anyway, if you guys are interested in seeing more content like this, feel free to subscribe for more. And we shall catch you again in the next one. I can taste the cheese. Actually, not the other one. Y I’ll wait for mom for the cutting open soon. What about these ones? It’s beautiful. Oh, but this one though. Come on. Huh? On the door. That’s beautiful.