How are you celebrating fall? The moment the weather turns with the slightest of chill, I am ready for sweaters, apples and pumpkins. In honor of cooler temperatures, I made Paul Hollywood's Cheddar and Apple Bread.
My personal challenge: baking my way through "How to Bake". This post is my experience baking and learning new skills from tackling each recipe in Paul Hollywood's, "How to Bake". I will also document any recipe changes that I made - mainly as a result of not having the ingredients on hand (i.e., we never have regular sugar in the house) - and how the recipe fared. I will not be providing the recipes that are in his book.
For the eighth recipe that I made, I decided to surprise my husband with Paul Hollywood's "How to Bake" Cheddar and Apple Bread. It's apple picking season and that means it is time to devour all things fall related from apple cider to pumpkins. So, of course, this recipe has been on deck in preparation for the first signs of fall - brisk mornings and colder evenings with the slightest changes of the leaves on the trees.
Side note: My husband is a huge cheese fanatic. To be fair, I haven't heard of moderate cheese lovers. Have you? This bread recipe reminded me of our freshly baked salt bread and grilled cheese days when I would try more creative pairings like apples, pears, or hot pepper jams.
The only thing I wish for this recipe is that I made a few different variations and tried different fillings like our grilled cheese days. I loved the gooey, warm filling in this bread as it's currently comforting on a chiller fall day, but I prefer variety and craved one bit or Cheddar and Apple, and one bit of something else. My husband, however, could have just used more cheese. 🧀
You may notice from some of my photos that, while crisp and perfectly golden, the bread was actually pretty flat. I'll share my lessons below and recommendations for how you can combat this if you prefer more dough like a Chicago-styledeep dish rather than a NY-style or traditional Neopolitan thin crust. Despite the reasoning behind my flat bread, we do prefer Neopolitan pizza.
Here are some of the lessons that I learned:
Olive Oil Works: Paul Hollywood recommends using olive oil on your table and hands while kneading the dough to avoid the dough sticking to everything. I usually use a little water and I have to say, olive oil works wonders. You may already know this, but when you drizzle or lightly glaze olive oil over your dough before baking, it gives the baked loaf a softer and richer flavor. This is because the olive oil prevents too much water from evaporating from the bread. Depending on the use for the loaf, I prefer a softer bite compared to a tough chew like Sourdough crusts unless I'm pairing with soups or sauces and dips. I didn't realize I could combine the kneading step with the "olive oil wash" and save time while also keeping my hands and workspace cleaner. Now, if you like a softer bread, try a little olive oil in your kneading to achieve that perfect softness and just a light drizzle before baking.
More Cheese Please: Now, I know that I added a disclaimer or side note about my husband's admiration of all things cheese, but honestly I would have been happier with more cheese. It essentially disappeared in the filling between two edges of bread and the sliced apples. The cheddar and apple bread recipe calls for 150g of cheddar and I would like to try to increase by half to about 225g or 1 cup next time I attempt this recipe. We used mild raw cheddar cheese for this recipe for the filling. And not only to gain a tangier, more robust flavor but also reap the benefits of the raw cheese, we grated a raw sharp cheddar over top. I'd highly recommend. The sharp cheddar perfectly balanced the buttery mild cheddar and sweetness of the cooked apples.
Don't Forget the Water: Paul Hollywood recommends placing a dish with water in the oven to help steam the bread, helping the bread keep moist. There is also a crucial moment in the beginning of baking where this steam helps the bread "spring", so the surface of the bread can remain moist and still expand. I skipped this step for two reasons: A. I prefer olive oil to retain moisture and I like to spray the loaf when removing from the oven to obtain the benefits of a steam and give a nice sheen. B. I can never get the proper water amount - you still need a dry environment for the loaf to brown. I recommend NOT skipping this step because our loaf was flat and did not get the proper steam to stay moist and expand. To combat the "too much water" or "not enough", place 1 cup of billing water to the oven during the first minutes of baking and then remove after 15 minutes. This is sufficient time for the burst of steam as well as ensuring the oven then dries out to brown the loaf later on.
Herbs and Spices: There were no particular flavors outside of the apples and cheddar for this recipe, so my husband and I tried to weigh a rosemary and garlic or sage pairing with this recipe. I opted for sage since we often use rosemary and garlic in our breads. I thought the flavors went well together had had a perfect aroma of fall from the baked sage. My husband craved a sausage in the morning along with the Cheddar and Apple Bread and he said it was the perfect, balanced fall-flavored breakfast.
On that note, I hope that you find a recipe book you enjoy, or this one, that I am currently baking my way through. Either way, enjoy baking and nourishing yourself and your family. Please don't hesitate to leave a comment and let me know lessons you have learned in your baking!
All my light. All my love.
Namaste,
Jordan
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