Sweet 'n' Savoury: Lasagna Pull Apart Bread

“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight"

M.F.K. Fisher

Breadmaking is one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world's sweetest smells... there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of
meditation in a music-throbbing chapel that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread....

To me these lines written by M.F.K. Fisher, exactly and perfectly describe the joy of breadbaking. You have to bake a bread and be a witness to that intoxicating aroma in your kitchen to understand the above said. The smell of freshly baked bread can truly lift any spirit.

So you can well understand my plight when I learnt that a new breadbaking group has formed who will be baking 12 amazing breads for 12 months!! Aparna of My diverse kitchen, the mastermind, christened the group "We Knead To Bake'!! (We so badly do!!) I fell in love with the name instantly and requested to get joined in the fun. And I am so pleased to be part of this amazing bread baking group.

Our kickstart bake is this pull apart bread which to me is a very new method. Cutting the dough in squares and stacking them gives a unique pull-apart to this bread. The filling choices are immense. While the original recipe calls for a herb and cheese filling, you may very conveniently change it to your liking. You may even make it a sweet bread with a sweet filling.

My very first thought was to try two sauces, the red and the white, which I love to use in my Lasagna. The layers of bread worked as sheets of lasagna and the entire combination was a treat to remember and surely repeat! The bread was super soft and together with the oozing sauces, it gave an incredible 'Modern Lasagna eating' experience.

Ingredients:

For the dough

3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp yeast
1/2 cup warm milk
1 tsp sugar
25 gms butter, softened
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk, for kneading

Filling:

For Red sauce:

2 tbsp Olive oil
3-4 pods garlic, chopped
1 medium sized onion, chopped
2 medium sized tomato, chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
salt to taste
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp oregano

For White sauce:

1 tbsp yellow butter
1 tbsp all purpose flour
3/4 cup warm milk
salt to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
3-4 tbsp grated cheese(I used processed cheese)
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves

Procedure:

Dough:
Take 1/2 cup warm milk in a small bowl and add sugar and sprinkle yeast. Leave it for 5-10 mins and let it rise.
Take flour, salt and softened butter in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture and knead with milk using little by little. You may require upto 3/4 milk. Knead well for 4-5 mins and shape the dough in a ball. Place it in a well oiled bowl and cover with a damp muslin cloth. Let it rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours or till it doubles in size.

Red sauce:
Take oil in a pan and add garlic. As it begins to get brown add onions. After a little while add chopped tomatoes. Add tomato puree and let it cook for a while. Add salt, red chilli powder and tomato ketchup. Mix well. Sprinkle oregano and remove from heat to cool.

White sauce:
Take yellow butter in a pan over low heat and add all purpose flour. Cook till it turns brown and then add warm milk(to avoid lumps) When the sauce thickens add salt and black pepper powder. Sprinkle half of the grated cheese(saving half to sprinkle on the dough) and the corinader and remove from flame to cool.

Assembling:
Dust your work surface with little flour and roll the dough into a square 12x12".
Brush the area with some melted butter. Spread the red sauce in one half of the square and white sauce on the other half. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on the white sauce and some oregano on the red sauce.
Using a pizza cutter, divide the dough in six long and even strips. Stack them together. I stacked the strips so that the red and white sauce area of dough is alternately arranged. Use the side strips in the middle to get a neat look.
Now cut this stack further in 6 squares with a pizza cutter.
Grease a 9x5" loaf tin and stack these squares in it. Cover with a damp muslin cloth and allow to rise for an hour.
Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius and bake the bread for 35-40 mins.

Step wise pics

I am so glad to be able to bake for this month though I joined very late. It was the most satisfying bread baking experience, all thanks to Aparna. So looking forward to the next challenge.