Paprika, Parsley & Cheese Chilli Plaited Loaf

 

There it is, all finished now.

I love bread. Whenever I go to the supermarket, I always spend ages at the bread counter, looking at, and gaining inspiration from all the flavours of the rolls and twists and buns. Mmm. More than that, I love making bread at home, experimenting with sweet and savoury flavours. The only thing about bread is that it is quite time consuming; not the individual parts of the process, but the process as a whole, the waiting, mainly. So I don't make it as often as I'd like. But after all the hype about bread this week, yes, I am talking about Bake-off, I really wanted to make bread. And so I did. Paprika, parsley and cheese chilli bread. The lovely smell permeates the house, and it tastes absolutely wonderful. I realised, when I was watching Bake-off, that I do the exact thing I accuse my mother of doing, which is just throwing in amounts of ingredients, seemingly at random. It's like those old fashioned cookbooks, before the concept of standardised measuring cups and spoons was brought about courtesy of Fannie Farmer (yes, I watch far too many repeats of QI); 'take a goodly pinch of spice...', But I do the exact same thing when I'm cooking or baking a recipe I am familiar with. So today, when making this bread, I endeavoured to measure the amounts of ingredients so that I may write up this recipe accurately.  I ran out of parsley though, fresh and dried, which was irksome. And then there wasn't enough mature cheddar, so I used some Red Leicester as well. And also, I think it still needed more chilli, although last time I made it, it was far too chilli, (and the taste of chilli develops with each passing day) to the point that on the third day, you could not warm it without the scent of chilli permeating the air, making your throat itch and your eyes sting, and giving you a raw cough for the rest of the day... anyway. I use Paul Hollywood's basic bloomer recipe (I always feel a bit weird typing 'Paul Hollywood's Bloomer' into Google...), adjusting it to suit whichever bread I want to make. So here we go: (The name's a bit of a mouthful, sorry, I'm working on it) (or not. It's going to stick once this thing is published...)

PAPRIKA, PARSLEY AND CHEESE CHILLI PLAITED LOAF:

Mise.

(Makes two loaves)
INGREDIENTS
500g Strong white bread flour
7g Instant yeast
10g Crushed sea salt
320ml Warm water
40ml Olive oil
150g Grated mature cheddar
2tsp Paprika
1tsp Ground red chilli flakes, or alternatively, 2tsp chilli grind
1tsp Freshly ground black pepper
Large handful fresh cleaned parsley, chopped

METHOD

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water with 4tsp sugar. Cover and set aside until doubled in size.
2. Mix together the rest of the ingredients. Pour in the water/yeast mixture and mix until you get a soft, sticky dough.
3. Flour a clean work surface. Tip out dough and knead until it becomes stretchy, smooth, and elastic. Alternatively, you can place all the ingredients in an electric mixer with the dough hook attachment, and let it do for 7-10 minutes on a medium speed. (That's what I did. I'm lazy.)
4. Place in a well oiled bowl, Clingfilm, and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
5. Once doubled, knock back, tip onto a floured surface, and split into two. Split each half into three. Roll the pieces of dough to make plait strands, then plait, and place onto an oiled and floured baking tray, making sure to tuck both ends underneath. Brush with milk, sprinkle with sea salt and chilli flakes, then cover lightly and leave to prove once again until doubled in size.
6. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5. Place a tray filled with boiling water on the bottom shelf of the oven. Bake bread on the middle shelf of the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes until almost done, then turn up the heat, and bake until the top is golden brown. Remove from oven, transfer onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool slightly before cutting.

Slightly messy plaiting, but that's allowed when its just for
home, right?

Proved and ready to bake.

 (Sorry for the messy layout. The editing on this thing, plus sketchy wifi, is driving me crazy.)