Savory Grape Bread with Lemon, Goat Cheese and Sea Salt
I used The Flavor Bible to build the flavor profile of this bread. You can make the bread very simply by leaving out my additions of lemon zest, goat cheese and a sprinkle of Fleur de Sel on top. The flavors do work together beautifully, though, so if you have the time and some goat cheese lying about, do give it a try!
175gwhole milk, warmed to about 110-120F (it will feel very warm but not hot)
175gwater, warmed to about 110-120F (ditto)
1Tablespoonwhite grape juice*(you can buy white grape juice, but I just mashed about 8 of my grapes and strained the liquid, measuring 1 Tablespoon)
2Tablespoonsextra virgin olive oil, plus more for your work surface, hands and for drizzling on top
40-80grapes(I used black seedless. Use what you like, but make sure they're seedless), depending on how many grapes you want in your bread.
5-6ozgoat cheese, crumbled
Fleur de sel or other coarse sea salt of your choice for sprinkling the rolls before baking
Instructions
In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together the flour, salt and yeast.
Add the lemon zest, all the liquid and the 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.
Using the dough hook on low speed, mix for about a minute, until the dough starts to come together.
Cover the bowl and let rest for about 20-30 minutes.**
Mix another two minutes, cover and let rest an additional 20-30 minutes.**
Knead on medium speed for 8 minutes. The dough should clear the bottom of the bowl, but it will be very sticky. You will most likely need to oil your hands to work with it.
Here it is: Oil your hands and form the dough into a ball, drawing the top fairly taut.
Plop it back in the mixer bowl and cover with a lint-free towel. Put in a warm place to rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
Lightly oil your work surface. This will prevent you from tossing in a whole bunch of extra flour and ending up with dry bread. You're welcome.
Preheat your oven to 475F. Place a rack in the center of the oven and put a baking stone on it if you have one.
Lightly oil 2 baking sheets (or line with parchment). Set aside.
Scrape the dough out onto the oiled surface and pull into a more or less regular square or rectangle shape. Be fairly gentle. You don't need (or want) to press out the gases for this bread.
Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, pulling the top fairly taut while trying not to squish out too much air.
Set the dough balls on an oiled tray. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place until they are just about doubled, about 30 minutes.
One at time, gently stretch each dough ball out into a long oval shape, again trying to be gentle.
On half of the oval, place 2 to 4 grapes. Really press them down into the dough. Sprinkle on some crumbled goat cheese.
Fold the the other half of the oval up over the grapes and cheese, covering them completely.
Press 2-4 more grapes into the top of the dough and a bit more goat cheese.
Drizzle with maybe 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil and sprinkle on just a bit of the coarse salt.
Set aside on one of your two prepared trays.
When you have five on a tray, you can go ahead and put that tray in the oven right on top of your baking stone so those guys will be baking while you finish making the other five. Bake for 7 minutes. Rotate the tray and bake for 7 more minutes.
Remove from the oven and scoop them off the pan with a spatula to let them cool on a rack.
Repeat with the other tray.
Cool to warm-ish before eating.
Enjoy!
Notes
*You don't have to bother with the grape juice if you don't want. I just thought the yeast might enjoy a bit of grape sugar. Just increase the water or the milk by 1 Tablespoon, roll your eyes and me, and keep going.**You do not have to give the dough the rest periods, or autolyze, but it can be helpful. Here's a good explanation of why.