Casatiello

I’m a big fan of the two-in-one. As a kid I had a massive collection of skorts. You know, skirts with shorts sewn into them? Actually I have a ton of them still, but I wear them when I teach Bodystep classes… Skorts are awesome.

I know we’re all big fans of the printer/scanner/copier! I mean, what did we do before we had them? Walk to several different machines to do our printing, scanning and copying? Crazy talk. That’s like having multiple remote controls for all of your TV attachments, silly.

Now who has a cell phone that is just a phone? Even my not-so-fancy Palm Centro (it’s blue!) is a phone, computer and lets me play solitaire. Love the multi-tasker. Someday I’ll have a fancy phone that lets me start my car from another state, maybe I’ll have to get a fancy car first. One step at a time!

The bread that I made this weekend from the Bread Bakers Apprentice is just that, a multi-tasker. It’s also a time saver! It’s bread, cheese and meat, all in one! No need to make a sandwich, just slice a piece off and you’ve got it made!

Casatiello

Adapted from The Bread Bakers Apprentice

I loved this bread, it’s so buttery and delicious. Enjoy a slice for lunch with a little mustard. It’s like making one big sandwich! Just remember to start with warm milk to wake up your yeast.

½ cup bread flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 cup 2% milk (warmed for 30 seconds in the microwave, you want it around 90 °F)

4 ounces dry-cured salami, chopped into bite-size pieces
3 ½ cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 eggs, beaten
6 tbsp butter
1 cup sharp cheddar

Mix first three ingredients together and let sit for an hour. The mixture should be all foamy.


See, foamy!

While the yeast is waking up, fry the salami in a saucepan until its crispy. Drain off the grease and let the salami sit on some paper towels to remove as much grease as possible. Try not to eat all of the crispy salami, or fry up extra (like I did…).

Before butter...

Combine remaining flour, salt and sugar. Add in yeast mixture and eggs and mix until incorporated. If there is any flour still not incorporated add a little water. Allow the dough to rest for ten minutes then add the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Knead the dough for about 12 minutes, the dough will slowly come together and be all smooth and sexy.

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After butter...

Add the cheese and salami. Knead for a minute if you need to evenly distribute the mix-ins.
Form the dough into a ball and put into an oiled bowl. Roll the dough around to coat it in oil and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 60-90 minutes until it increases in size by 1 ½ times (it took mine about an hour in my warm apartment).

This is a boule of dough!

Either plop the ball of dough into an 8-inch cake pan or split into two 8 ½ x 4 ½ -inch loaf pans. Spray the top of the dough with cooking spray and cover in plastic wrap. Allow the loaves to rise until they reach the tops of the pans.

Bake in a 350 F oven for 20 minutes, rotate pans 180 degrees. Bake for another 20 to 30 minutes. You want the bread golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and remove from the pan right away. Allow the bread to cool for 1 hour before chowing down.