Week 11 - Bread: Cheese and Onion Tear and Share Loaf

Home made bread is one of my favorite foods as it tastes so much better then shop bought bread. I am hoping that my attempt at the Cheese and Onion Tear and Share Loaf will go as successfully as my previous bread recipe. As its just my husband and I who will be eating the bread, I will be making rolls instead of an entire loaf as then I can put what we don't eat into the freezer.

The mixture

I sifted 450g of strong bread flour into a bowl and mixed in the salt, sugar and yeast. I made a well in the centre of the flour and poured in 300ml of lukewarm water and 1 tablespoon of oil. I mixed all of the ingredients together, adding a little more water as the mixture was a little dry, until a soft dough had been formed. I covered the bowl with clingfilm and left it to rest for 10 minutes.

The soft dough

I placed the dough onto my floured kitchen work surface and kneaded the dough for 5 minutes. I used stretching and gathering-back movements to knead the dough which I learnt to do from the previous bread recipe in the "How to Bake" book. I placed the kneaded dough into a large oiled bowl and covered it with oiled clingfilm. I then placed the dough in my airing cupboard and left it to rise for an hour.

The dough ball covered with oiled clingfilm

Once the dough had risen to double its size, I punched it down and kneaded the dough for a few minutes until it became smooth.

The risen dough

As I was making rolls and not a 'tear and share' loaf, I split my dough into 7 pieces instead of 19 like the recipe instructed. I flattened out each of the 7 dough pieces so that they looked like mini pizza bases.

The flattened dough pieces

I then fried the thinly sliced onion until soft and grated 120g of cheddar into a bowl. I put the onion and some of the grated cheese into the middle of each flattened piece and folded up the dough around the filling.

The onion and cheese filling

I pinched the top of each dough ball so as to create a seal over the filling. I lined a baking tray with baking paper and arranged the dough balls seam-side down on the tray making sure that there was enough space between each roll.

The filled dough balls

The recipe said to cover the dough with a large upturned roasting tin. However I had to cover my dough with clingfilm as I don't own a large roasting tin. I put the baking tray into the airing cupboard and left the rolls to rise for 40 minutes. 10 minutes before I took the dough out of the airing cupboard, I preheated the oven to Gas Mark 5.

The risen rolls

I sprinkled some more of the grated cheese over the rolls and baked them in the oven for 25 minutes until golden brown.

Ready for the oven

The baked rolls

I rotated the baking tray after 15 minutes of baking so as to make sure that the rolls were evenly browned.

The verdict

My rolls had a good light, spongy texture and the cheese and onion filling made the bread extremely tasty!! After eating one of the cheese and onion rolls my husband declared that "it was amazing in the most stunning way".

Next Week's Baking Challenge:

Stilton, Potato and Caramelised Onion Pie