Gruyère Mini Loaves
Truth #1: I made this recipe because of the photo on the King Arthur Flour web site. That drip of gruyère melting down the side of the spiral bread? Oh gruyère loaf, you had me at hello. And the thing is, this bread lives up to that photo. A fresh out-of-the-oven, crusty french loaf, a hit of garlic, a touch of olive oil, a lot of gruyère...there’s just nothing better than that.
Truth #2: These are a little tricky to make. It’s a very sticky dough and the recipe authors do warn you about it. They’ve even posted their own helpful blog post about how to handle it which you should read. And that’s great, except when you’re trying to simply roll the dough and cheese together and the dough just wants to stick to the parchment and your fingers and anything else it may come in contact with. But my friends, it’s worth it. I just served the gruyère loaves warm with some hearty tomato soup and a side salad and it was an amazing weeknight meal. I can’t wait to make them again. Ok really, I can’t wait to eat them again.
Gruyere Mini Loaf Recipe:
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/gruyere-stuffed-crusty-loaves-recipe
Here are a few tips to help you along the way:
Plan ahead, this dough requires an overnight starter.
Keep a small bowl of flour next to your mixing bowl as you mix your dough. I had to add a few tablespoons to the wet dough as as I mixing, even though I live in a dry climate.
Do the “windowpane” test to make sure your dough is mixed properly. The dough won’t really ever clear the side of the bowl like you might be used to when bread making.
The recipe suggests adding their brand of “pizza dough flavor” to the dough. If you don’t have it, I suggest adding 1/4 tsp garlic powder and the hint of flavor it added was perfect to me. (That being said, their products are really nice if you do want to buy it.)
Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to take the dough out of the bowl. Try not to tear at it or you’ll break the gluten strands.
Place your parchment on a silicon mat with measurements. This will help when dividing your dough.
Spray your parchment with cooking spray before you dump out your proofed dough, Trust me, your dough will be much easier to roll up this way.
The recipe says to brush the dough with their garlic oil or spray with water before you add your cheese. I didn’t have the garlic oil and I didn’t like the idea of spraying with water, so I brushed my dough with extra virgin olive oil. I think this is a better solution than plan water.
Similarly, if you don’t have a spritzer to spray water on your shaped rolls before they go into the oven, you can just brush it on like you would an egg wash. The spray is certainly faster though.
The recipe calls these mini loaves. In fact, they’re quite large. Some commenters suggested cutting the rolled up dough into 8 pieces rather than 4. I haven’t tried it, but it’s a tempting suggestion. On the other hand, the size that cutting it into 4 pieces make are great sizes for gifting friends or co-workers. Trying to win someone over? This might be a great way. In any case, if you try these Gruyère Mini Loaves let me know! Would love to know how you served them. I had a hard time not eating them all the second they were out of the oven.
