Savoury Chili Cheese & Garlic Pull-Apart Bread
BAKING,  BREADS,  VEGETARIAN

Holiday Baking| Savoury Cheese & Garlic Olive Oil Pull-Apart Bread {vegetarian}

2011/12/08 / 25 Comments
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“A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.”
Thomas Keller

Savoury Chili Cheese & Garlic Pull-Apart BreadIt’s the season to be jolly, and in many ways jolly hungry! Fresh off the success of the sweet apple olive oil popovers and pull apart bread, I was keen to do a savoury version. The dough which came together beautifully for the Apple Cranberry Almond Olive Oil Pop-overs and Pull-Apart Bread delivered its promise in this wonderful Savoury Chili Cheese & Garlic Olive Oil Pull-Apart Bread.

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Eggless, butterless yet light and scrumptious had won me over. The Pioneer Womans Cinnamon Roll Dough which I got from an adaptation from Ginny @ Cooking With Chopin, Living With Elmo for The Secret Recipe Club this month seems to have been one of the best discoveries of the year. It took to the apple stuffing so well, I decided to try my luck with savoury. I sneaked in some butter this time though!I might bake and blog a load of sweet on PAB, but my heart is totally savoury. Nothings delights my palette more than savoury bakes, the success of which are always very rewarding. I enjoyed making this bread, adding some red and green chili peppers that I had preserved in vinegar a few days ago. Tangy, chili, salty … loads of flavour in them. I think preserved olives or maybe roasted bell peppers would compliment this bread too. Served my bread with some fresh homemade tomato soup, chargrilled broccoli with chili & garlic and chicken paillards in compound lime cumin butter. Wonderful! I find that working flavours into a basic dough prior to the rising makes the bread burst with flavour, and just the way the family loves it. I reached out for ingredients I found on my counter, in my pantry, in my fridge… flecks of red and green for the holiday season keeping me inspired!Into the dough went dried herbs {fresh would be wonderful too}, garlic {we are a family that loves our garlic}, finely chopped almonds {just because I think nuts add great texture and taste to savoury breads; walnuts would be great too}. As a departure from the earlier recipe, I kneaded the dough for a minute or two before the final rise as it worked some elasticity into the dough, making it more pliable. {I made the dough in my Thermomix. You could use dough hooks or your processor as the dough is quite soft/doughy/sticky}In other completely unrelated news, my Thai chili plant from Down Under is finally in bloom and I cant wait to ‘harvest’ the first crop. The chilies look purplish at the moment, though I thought they were going to be red! Hmmm…Oh and our little Coco turned all of 6 months old, naughty as can be. She got thoroughly spoilt and completely untrained in the 4 days I was away … uber naughty again but C.U.T.E.!! Sigh!

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Savoury Cheese & Garlic Olive Oil Pull-Apart Bread

A full of flavour, light savoury pull apart bread. Olive oil, red & green preserved chili peppers, garlic and sharp cheddar make this a wonderful light choice for the festive season. {Eggless/vegetarian}
Course Appetiser, Side Dish
Cuisine American, Italian
Keyword baking, bread, vegetarian, yeast
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Dough resting time 2 hours
Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes
Servings 2 loaves

Ingredients

1 portion dough {recipe follows}

  • 200 gm sharp cheddar {or mozzarella}
  • Preserved chili peppers {or olives roasted bell peppers etc}
  • 50-75 gm unsalted butter melted, cooled

Dough {from The Pioneer Womans cinnamon rolls; can be made a day ahead}

  • 2 cups whole milk warm
  • 1/2 cup light olive oil
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 heaping spoon salt
  • 4-5 cloves garlic minced
  • 2-3 tbsp dried Italian herbs {or fresh}
  • 1 tsp red chili flakes
  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 4 cups {plus 1/2 cup extra separated} all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon {heaping} baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon {scant} baking soda
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup roasted almonds chopped fine

Instructions

Dough

  • Mix the milk, olive/vegetable oil and sugar in a pan (LARGE POT).
  • Sprinkle in the Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute {5-10 minutes}.
  • Then add 4 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.
  • After rising for at least an hour, add 1/2 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Knead the dough for a minute or two before the final rise as it seems to work some elasticity into the dough, making it more pliable. {I made the dough in my Thermomix. You could use dough hooks or your processor as the dough is quite soft/doughy/sticky}
  • {At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down}

Savoury Chili Cheese & Garlic Pull-Apart Bread

  • Grease the sides of an 8″ Victoria sandwich tin, and line the base.
  • Roll the dough out into a large rectangle, about 1/4″ thick, and pour over half the melted butter, spreading evenly with an offset spatula.
  • Grate cheddar all over, and sprinkle over with chopped pickled chili peppers.
  • Roll the larger end like a swiss roll. With a sharp knife {or floss} cut into12 portions, and place cut side up in the prepared tin all around the edges. There will be gaps in the dough, don’t worry. All the gaps get filled in as the bread rises before and during baking. {You could also use a muffin tray. I lined the bottoms with circles of parchment and greased the sides.}
  • Place a dessert ring/mold in the centre so that the dough doesn’t spread inward. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about an hour.
  • Bake at 180°C for 40-45 minutes. Cover with foil for the last 10 minutes of baking to prevent over browning. Brush with the remaining melted butter as soon as it comes out.
  • Leave in the pan for 15-20 minutes, then loosen the sides with a butter knife and turn out.
  • Serve warm or at room temperature. {The bread tastes good the next day too, sliced and reheated on a non stick pan with a few drops of EVOO}

Notes

  • I made half the above portion.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

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25 Comments

  • Suma

    2011/12/08 at 12:42 pm Reply

    This is a recipe which makes you want to bake again and again, I had baked these twice in 3 days! Seriously easy and delish! Your savory version looks very tempting.. cheese, chilli, garlic and herbs, yumm! – I got to to try this!

  • Renata

    2011/12/08 at 2:17 pm Reply

    My favorite bread of all times is similar to that, and coincidentally, I baked a loaf just today! Will post it in a couple of days. I will have to try your version, I can almost smell the deliciousness!
    Your doggy is so so cute!

  • Francoise

    2011/12/08 at 9:13 pm Reply

    Just by looking to the photo, the bread looks so yummy, perfect if you eat it with espresso. Thank you for sharing you recipe. I have another addition in my recipe book.

  • Divya @flavourfiesta

    2011/12/08 at 10:23 pm Reply

    HI Deeba,

    Not sure if I have ever had a chance to leave you a comment before, but I wanted to say you have a splendid blog. I’m not much of a baker myself, but I do appreciate all the hard work that goes into it (especially since I hardly ever get it right! :)). Love all your posts – the recipes, the photography, the layout – everything!

    Keep up the inspiring work!

    Cheers,

    Divya

  • tanaya chaturvedi

    2011/12/08 at 11:20 pm Reply

    I am completely in love with your blog (and Coco!) Not just are you pretty brilliant at the baking, but your photographs are to die for! 🙂 Cant wait to try my hands on this savoury bread. Just a query- how much yeast is required for this bread (in gms?) Am a novice at using yeast so would love some babysitting 🙁

  • Anna

    2011/12/09 at 1:30 am Reply

    This pull-apart bread is such an amazing idea. I have never seen anything like this before (stone me if I am strange and it has been around for ages :)). I wish, I could come up with this kind of creative food ideas :)!

  • Indu

    2011/12/09 at 9:00 am Reply

    First things first…Coco has become such a daaarrrrling! Look at her ‘fringe’. But she doesn’t LOOK naughty anymore, more like a lady with uncontrolled hair growth… 🙂

    The pull apart bread looks and sounds delicious….I would prefer this to the sweet version any day. You can’t beat the cheese, garlic, pepper and herb combo, though I might try to squeeze in tomato somewhere as well..

  • Zee

    2011/12/09 at 1:47 pm Reply

    Your bread looks amazing! I made something similiar 2 days ago, will post soon but yours is definitely better than mine 🙂
    And congratulations to Coco.. She is sooo cute!

  • Kaitlin

    2011/12/10 at 9:46 pm Reply

    YUM! I keep coming across all of these absolutely lovely variations on cinnamon rolls and I can’t wait to try some out. This sounds divine!

    Also, happy 6 months to Coco. What a doll!

  • Delishhh

    2011/12/19 at 11:07 pm Reply

    Oh YUM – this looks wonderful. I am a huge fan of the pull apart concept and these look just fantastic. Will go with anything 🙂 Just some plain butter for me.

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