August 18, 2020
My latest experiment in the kitchen has been working to perfect my Parmigiano-Reggiano herb bread. I first made this bread a few weeks ago when I was trying to experiment with a new quickish bread recipe to bring along to a small birthday gathering. Our friends had smoked some meats to share, so it was only natural for me to make some cheesy carbs to serve alongside the smoked meats. I had been playing around with making a version of crusty bread in my kitchen oven for the last few weeks. When I ended up making a fairly good loaf of plain crusty bread, I started to work on incorporating other elements to really help the bread stand out. My experiments led me to add a couple ounces of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (one of my absolute favorite cheeses other than cheddar and Asiago), and some dried herbs (equal parts Italian seasoning and dried oregano). Yes, I’m aware Italian seasoning already has oregano, but I wanted my bread to have more dried oregano in relation to the other dried herbs. It did take me a few tries before I got the bread just right, but once I reached the perfect ratio of ingredients, the end result was the most savory, crusty, fluffy, and truly spectacular bread. In my hopes to ensure the spectacular bread wasn’t just luck, I decided to bake up a couple more loaves of my Parmigiano-Reggiano herb bread for others to try. The second time around, I brought my Parmigiano-Reggiano herb bread to our friend’s small birthday gathering. My Parmigiano-Reggiano herb bread turned out to be a huge hit with our friends. One of our friends described the bread as being similar to the bread he once had at an elegant local restaurant in Montgomery, Ohio. I was very pleased with how the bread turned out and decided to try making it one more time before sharing the recipe with the world. For me, the hallmark of a great bread lies in all of the elements making up the bread. The bread has to have a crusty exterior, a fluffy interior (with tons of air pockets), and a deep savory flavor. My Parmigiano-Reggiano bread had all of those elements and more. The magical part about the bread was how a few simple pantry ingredients combined with some TLC and patience turned a piece of dough into the most remarkable bread. While the bread did take almost three hours to make from start to finish (including the time it took for the dough to rise properly), the actual active work time was closer to about 30 minutes. Giving the bread sufficient time to rise in between forming the dough, and separating the dough into loaves really made a difference in the end result of the bread. The more time the bread had to rise, the better the result. I did check on the bread about once every 20 minutes just to make sure the active dry yeast was doing its job in helping bubbles form in the bread. Once the loaves of bread looked sufficiently bubbly, I popped the loaves of bread into the oven and trusted the oven to do its part in transforming the bubbly dough into the most marvelous cheesy bread. The bread turned out absolutely amazing the third time around. With the success of the bread multiple times around, I was ready to share my findings with everyone.
For the Parmigiano-Reggiano herb bread: (yields two loaves of bread)
· 4 cups bread flour, plus ¼ cup bread flour for kneading dough
· 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
· ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
· 1½ teaspoons active dry yeast
· 1½ cups lukewarm water
· 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus additional for brushing onto a sheet of plastic wrap
· 2-3 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated
· ½ teaspoon dried oregano
· ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
· ½ cup water
Directions:
1) In a large bowl, combine four cups of bread flour, kosher salt, granulated sugar, and active dry yeast. Slowly pour in the lukewarm water. Use your hands to mix all of the ingredients together directly in the bowl until a dough begins to form. Gradually dust in the remaining flour as you continue kneading the dough. Pour in the vegetable oil. Keep kneading the dough until all ingredients are incorporated and a smooth dough ball is formed, about 10 minutes. Cover the bowl with a plate or a sheet of plastic wrap and let it rest for at least an hour. While the dough is resting, line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2) After an hour has passed, the dough ball should have doubled in size. Remove the plate or sheet of plastic wrap. Gently add in the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, dried oregano, and Italian seasoning. Carefully divide the dough ball in half. Form each of the halves into a loaf. Transfer the loaves onto the parchment lined sheet pan. Gently tuck in the edges of the loaves. Brush some vegetable oil onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Cover the two loaves of bread with the sheet of plastic wrap ensuring the side with vegetable oil is facing down on the loaves. Let the two loaves rise undisturbed for another hour to hour and a half.
3) Preheat oven to 375°F about 15 minutes before the rising time of the loaves are up. Place another baking pan into the oven on the bottom rack (a trick I learned in my professional baking class). Once the oven is preheated and the loaves have rested for at least an hour, remove the plastic wrap. Score the bread 4-5 times. Add ½ cup of water directly onto the baking pan. Place the baking sheet with the two loaves onto the center rack of the oven. Bake the two loaves of bread for 30-35 minutes. Let the loaves of bread cool for 10 minutes before slicing into them.
Takeaways: The ingredients can be halved if you only want to make one loaf of bread. I’m not sure why you would, but the option is available. You can feel free to swap in any grated firm or hard cheese of your choice. Cheddar and Asiago are also good options.
Photos From My Prior Attempts
(Please ignore the messy kitchen in the photos from my prior attempts.)
