Spinach and Cheese Mix Bread
This recipe for spinach and cheese mix bread was prepared for Shavuot. The filled bread is made out of cloud-like soft yeasted dough. While at first it may seem like it’s impossible to work with, after a night of refrigeration, and some flour on your counter, it gives in and becomes very nice to work with.
The filling is a standard cheese mix filling that is suitable (and delicious) for pastries, however feel free to use any filling of your choice, and correct the flavors per your personal preference.
As soon as the bread comes out of the oven, brush it with garlic butter, mixed with some freshly chopped basil- the bite that comes after that is a dream.
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Spinach and Cheese Mix Bread:
Equipment: Loaf pan sized: 20cm (l) x 7cm (h) x 10cm (w), lined with parchment paper.
Recipe: A single loaf
Brioche Dough (about 500g):
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Bread Flour | 250g |
| Eggs | 56g (1 Large sized egg) |
| Cold Unsalted Butter (cubed) | 22g |
| Salt | 1/4 + 1/8 tsps |
| White Granulated Sugar | 22g |
| Milk | 90g |
| Water | 55g |
| Dry Yeasts | 1 + 1/4 tsps |
Cheese Filling:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| White Cheese (3%) | 100g |
| Sirene Cheese (5%) | 50g |
| Shredded Mozzarella (24%) | 50g |
| Eggs | 25g (Half a Medium Sized Egg) |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp (or to taste) |
| Pepper | 1/4 tsp (or to taste) |
| Fresh Spinach, finely chopped | 70g |
Garlic Butter mixture for brushing:
| Ingredient | Amount (g / units) |
| Unsalted Butter, Melted | 20g |
| Olive Oil | 10g |
| Salt | 1/8 tsp |
| Minced Garlic | 1/2 tsp |
| Fresh Basil, finely chopped | 4 Leaves |
Preparation instructions:
For the Dough:
Important note: the dough is very sticky and hard to work with as soon as it is done kneading. Therefore, it requires a long fermentation, preferably in the refrigerator overnight. Please take this into consideration when making your baking plans.
- Into a standing mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, add all of the dough’s ingredients, except for the butter cubes. Mix on low speed for a few minutes until all of the ingredients are combined.
- Add the butter gradually, a few cubes at a time, waiting until the first cubes are incorporated before adding the next ones. After all the butter is added, continue kneading for 10 minutes on low-medium speed. Scrap the dough from the bottom and sides of the bowl, to encourage even mixing, and continue kneading for 5 more minutes.
- The dough will look more like a soup and less like a dough, and you cannot work with it at once. Using a half-rounded cake card or a silicone spatula, transfer the dough to a large bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours (the more the better).
Cheese filling:
Into a medium sized bowl, add all the ingredients for the filling and thoroughly mix them together.
Keep refrigerated until use.
Garlic Butter Mixture:
In a separate bowl, mix all ingredients together until combined, and set to the side. It is recommended to prepare it while the bread is in the oven, so it wouldn’t harden.
Assembly and baking:
- On top of a lightly floured counter, place the dough and dust it with some more flour. Lightly knead the dough with your hands and shape it into a ball- you’ll see that it loses its stickiness and becomes nice to work with (1 tablespoon of flour should be sufficient in order for this to work). Roll the dough to a rectangle sized 36cm (l) x 24cm (w), with the wider side facing you.
- Using a bench scraper, cut strips at the upper third part of the dough, to create the pattern on top of the bread (optional).
- Evenly spread the entire amount of cheese filling at the lower two-thirds part of the dough, where it wasn’t cut into strips.
- Roll the dough from the lowest part upwards, and maintain the cut strips so they closely remain together.
- Transfer the bread to the prepared baking pan, cover with plastic wrap and proof for about 40 minutes at room temperature.
- While the bread is proofing, preheat your oven to 180C (fan mode off), placing a backing rack at the lowest level inside the oven.
- Bake for 40 minutes (after 20 minutes, you may cover the bread with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning).
- Take the bread out to a cooling rack, and brush the top with the garlic butter mixture.
- Unmold the bread and cool on the cooling rack for 20-30 minutes before slicing.
