Earlier this year, one of my co-workers found out that I like to cook/bake. He has been weeding out his cookbook collection, and has passed along some amazing books! This weekend, I cracked one of the new books open, and baked my first
Galette de Gannat!
It's a crusty cheese bread, and I'm pretty please with how it turned out! Here's what it took:
I started by combining the a cup of flour, yeast, and salt. Then I added the eggs (one at a time) and the butter (cut into little pieces).
Once the batter was combined, I added the rest of the flour until the dough was elastic.
After that, I turned it out onto the counter to knead- by hand!
I'll admit: my kneading needs a little practice- but I'm working on it! After kneading for 5 minutes or so, I started kneading the cheese into the dough.
Once everything was combined, I put it into a bowl...
Covered it in plastic wrap, and placed it in a warm spot.
After 90 minutes, the bread had risen considerably.
(And at this point, it smelled SO delicious! Yeast and cheese- talk about a match made in heaven!)
I split the dough in half, and shaped them into rounds (hence
Galette in the title).
I left them to rise for about 40 minutes under waxed paper, before putting them in the oven at 375 degrees.
About 40 minutes later, I pulled these cuties out of the oven. (I knew they were done when, according to the recipe, they produced a hollow sound when "thwacked" on the bottom with my finger).
Once the loaves cooled a bit, I sliced into one of 'em.
Talk about yummy- the bread is crumbly (thanks to the butter) and moist (thanks to the cheese)! And since the recipe makes 2 loaves: I had one to keep, and one to give to my coworker as a thank you for all the wonderful cookbooks!
Here's the recipe, in case you want to make this bread at your house:
Galette de Gannat(Gannat Cheese Bread)Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups bread flour (approximately)
2 packages dry yeast
2 tsp. salt
6 eggs, room temperature
1 cup butter, cut into small chunks
8 oz Swiss cheese, grated
Directions:
In a mixing bowl, combine one cup flour, yeast and salt. Add eggs, one at a time until well blended. Add pieces of butter, and mix until combined. Start adding flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough is elastic and pulls from away from the sides of the mixing bowl. Turn dough onto a flat surface, and knead by hand for 6 minutes. Press dough flat, and cover with grated cheese. Knead for an additional 2-3 minutes to distribute the cheese evenly throughout the dough. Place the dough in a warm place, covered in plastic wrap, to rise for 90 minutes. Take the dough from the bowl, divide in two, and shape into loaves on a baking sheet. Cover with wax paper and allow to rise for 40 minutes. Place into pre-heated oven, at 375 degrees, for 20 minutes. When loaves are finished, place on wire rack to cool.
Thank you for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!
I was out and about, and decided to stop by one of the most famous spots in NYC. I like to take a stroll through every now and then, just to see what's going on.
I usually try and stay away from this area, since it is often so congested- but I also like to people watch... and I think the TKTS stairs are the perfect spot to do just that!
There's always so much happening in this part of town. For example, within 2 blocks I stumbled across 4 "characters". I don't really understand who these people are, as they weren't affiliated with any stores or promotions as far as I could tell... so I was a little creeped out!
Oh, and you know what else I like to do when I'm in Times Square?
I like to take pictures of the advertisements. I know it may sound weird, but they change so often... it's kind of neat to have a memento of what was "in" and "popular" on a certain date! In that vein, here's a little collage of what's adorning Times Square these days:
Thanks for joining me on this little stroll through Times Square...
I hope you had a wonderful weekend!
