Garlic Breath Bread

This is the first try at a massively garlic bread with cheddar cheese. I got the motivation to try this from Mike Avery who teased me with talk of wonderful flavor.

I started with a AP white bread and added 10% white rye. Other than the olive oil that the garlic gets roasted in there are no other bread additives. The garlic was planned to be 200 grams which would represent 40% bakers percent of the 500 grams of total flour. I weighed out 5 full heads of garlic at 290 grams after cutting the tops off. After roasting and cleaning the paper skins off they weighed at 179 grams so I was a little light on the garlic. % heads and still short, wow! As you can see in the photos, I didn't clean each clove or purchase a bottle of pre cleaned garlic. I had wondered if they would be to mushy doing it this way but it seemed to be a good way to get a bunch of garlic done in a short time. In the end as you can see the cloves were soft enough to easily get them free from the skins with a small spoon when they had cooled enough to handle. The next step was to raise the broiler rack and broil them for a few minutes until they were carmelized on one side. By now the house was filled with the heavenly aroma of roasted garlic. I let the small pan I broiled them in cool with one end elevated so the oil would drain down to one end. I wanted to add the garlic infused oil to the dough before adding the cloves.

Earlier this morning I started a Biga using 300 Grams of the flour mix and 250 grams of room temp water and 1/2 teaspoon of Instant Yeast. That sat on the counter for about10 hours.

I mixed the final dough to 62% hydration and adding the remaining 200 grams of flour. I used the mixer to develop the gluten and then added the oil saved from the roasting pan and kneaded until it was incorporated fully. After resting 20 minutes I stretched the dough out into as large a circle as I could and topped it like a pizza with the garlic and 100 grams of extra sharp cheddar cubed in 1/4- 1/2 inch dimensions. I thought about using a vegetable peeler as had been mentioned elsewhere but I thing the chunks are better for texture internally. I did a book fold, rotated and jelly rolled a couple times while kneading and left it to ferment for 1-1/2 hours where it doubled. Gentle shaping on the counter trying to get the odd escapees to stay under cover, I proofed on a parchment covered sheet pan for 40 minutes.

Into the oven at 450 with steam for 10 minutes and another 25 minutes at 400, rotating in the middle. Internal temp was 205 F.

I had been afraid the cloves would fall apart because I had roasted them in their skins, which they did not. The cloves and cheese were evenly distributed in the crumb much to my surprise. Now that I have had a chance to taste the fruits of my labor, I'm kicking myself for not doubling the recipe. This is really really good. My wife kicked me out of the kitchen as soon as this was done so she could get started on Toll House cookies for our cousin in Afghanistan. If she doesn't try a piece soon, I'll be sleeping on the couch!

I'll post the recipe in normal form in a day or so if anyone wants to try this.

Eric

Dragons Breath Crumb

Freshly Baked

After bulk ferment

After Broiling

Out of the skins

Ready to roast