Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists #BreadBakers

These Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists are made with an enriched brioche dough filled with peanut butter and chocolate chips and baked till golden. Enjoy them with a cold glass of milk or a cup of tea.

I’ve always been a fan of peanut butter cups but find they are a little too sweet for me these days. Recently I was introduced to the Trader Joe’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups and, boy, howdy, are those guys good! 

They were my inspiration for this month’s Bread Bakers’ theme which is “favorite breads.” Who wouldn’t love a soft brioche twist filled with the perennial favorite combination of peanut butter and chocolate?

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists

This recipe is adapted from James Morton’s first fabulous baking book, Brilliant Bread. I also have one of his other books, Super Sourdough and can highly recommend both. If you have a stand mixer, I recommend you use it for this recipe. The dough is really sticky to knead by hand. 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon dry active yeast

1/3 cup or 78ml milk, slightly warmed

2 cups or 250g strong white bread flour -18g

1/4 cup or 57g sourdough starter (fed or discard)

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/3 cup or 75g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup or 194g creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup or 85g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method

In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the sugar and yeast with the warm milk and two tablespoons of the flour. Leave it for about five minutes. If the yeast has started foaming up, proceed with the next step. If not, your yeast is old and should be replaced. 

Add the flour, the sourdough starter, egg, yolk, milk and salt and combine to form a soft dough. 

Knead your dough for about 5–10 minutes, or until it is really starting to come together.  Add the soft butter and continue to knead until it passes the windowpane test, at least another 5 minutes. 

Cover and leave in a warm place to prove for one hour, or until doubled in size. Alternatively, leave to rest in the fridge for 10–14 hours.

Turn your proved dough out onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle some more flour on top. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a big square about 15 in or 38cm wide. 

Spread the peanut butter over one half. If your peanut butter is too stiff to spread easily, warm it slightly with a couple of quick zaps in a microwave. 

Sprinkle the chocolate chips onto the peanut butter. 

Fold your dough over to seal the peanut butter and chocolate chips. 

Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into strips. I got 10 strips out of mine but you can cut thicker or thinner strips, according to your preference.

Twist each strip and place them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper or a silicone liner. I couldn’t squeeze all 10 in one pan, try as I might. If yours are also too much for your biggest pan, put the remainers in a smaller pan. Don't crowd them because they need room to rise. 

Cover lightly with cling film and leave to rise for about an hour. At least half an hour before you’re going to bake, preheat your oven to 450°F or 232°C.

When you are ready to bake, turn your oven down to 410°F or 210°C and bake the twists for 10–15 minutes, until they are a light golden brown. We want them to stay soft and pillowy. 

I meant to turn my pans around halfway through because I know my oven doesn't brown evenly but we were watching the UEFA 2020 final and I completely forgot. If your oven has the same issues, you might want to turn your pan around at about the 7 minute mark. Also the extra ones were on a different oven shelf and got a bit darker. Still soft and delicious though! 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking pan for a few minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack and store in an airtight container. 

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, our Bread Bakers' theme this month is Favorite Breads. Many thanks to our host Kelly of A Messy Kitchen. Check out the great recipe links below. 

• Blueberry Pistachio Chocolate Sourdough from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
  
• Cinnamon-Honey Raisin Bagels from What Smells So Good?
  
• Cranberry Yeast Bread from A Messy Kitchen
• Garlic Rolls from Passion Kneaded 
• Hemp and Honey Whole Wheat Bread from Ambrosia
  
• Lemon Zucchini Loaf from A Day in the Life on the Farm
  
• No Knead Sourdough Sandwich Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Boule from Sneha's Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists!

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Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls #BreadBakers

Made one day and baked the next morning, these Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls are the perfect breakfast at home or on the go.  

I had a very different kind of breakfast bread planned for this event but for the first time in a very long time, much to my disappointment, the recipe was a complete failure. Honestly, I’m not sure where I went wrong. 

Fortunately, these guys came out so good that I ate two back to back. I’m not kidding! Smoked sausage in sourdough crescent rolls may be my new favorite breakfast.

Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls

This recipe is adapted from An Italian in my Kitchen. Use your favorite cooked sausage in the rolls. Mine is smoked jalapeño sausage. 

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unfed sourdough starter (discard) 

1/4 cup or 60ml lukewarm milk, plus extra for a milk wash before baking 

1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 cup or 125g all purpose flour plus more for rolling out the dough 

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 cooked sausages (I used smoked jalapeño ones.)

Method

In the mixing bowl add half of the flour, the sourdough starter, milk, sugar and yeast. Whisk until combined. 

Next add the melted butter, egg yolk and beat again.

Sift in the rest of the flour and the salt. 

Knead until smooth and elastic. This is quite a sticky dough but resist the urge to add too much flour. When dough is really sticky, I use a scraper to stretch it out on a clean countertop. 

Then use the scraper again to fold it over onto itself. 

And over again. 

Repeat those three steps until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 7-10 minutes. 

Let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a circle about 13 inches or 33 cm. Cut the circle into 8 triangles.

Place one sausage at the wide end, then roll up each triangle. Wet the point of the triangle with a little water if it doesn't want to stick. 

Place the sausage stuffed rolls on your prepared baking pan. Cover the rolls with greased cling film and put the rolls in the refrigerator to rise for 12-24 hours.  

In the morning or whenever you are ready to bake, remove the crescent rolls from the refrigerator and set them aside to warm up for about an hour. When they are almost room temperature, preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. 

Brush the rolls with a little milk. 

Bake the stuffed crescent rolls for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden. 

Remove them from the pan and set on a wire rack to cool. 

We love them with mustard but you can eat these lovely sausage rolls just as they are as well. 

Enjoy!  

Today’s Bread Bakers’ theme is breakfast breads. Check out all the great recipe links below. Many thanks to our host, Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen.

• Breakfast Garbage Bread from Making Miracles
• Danish Crisps from A Messy Kitchen
• English Muffins from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Flax Meal Breakfast Bread from Ambriosia
• Fresh Cherry Chocolate Sourdough Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Multigrain Blueberry Bread from What Smells So Good?
• Montreal-Style Bagels from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Rhubarb Strawberry Spiced Sourdough Bread from Cook with Renu
• Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls from Food Lust People Love
• Spicy Masala Veggie Paratha from Magical Ingredients
• Sourdough Angel Biscuits from Palatable Pastime
• Sourdough Crepes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sourdough Discard Pancakes from Sneha’s Recipe


                                                     
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.



Pin these Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls!

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Sourdough Sprouted Spelt Blini #BreadBakers

These sourdough sprout spelt blini are flavorful and fluffy, perfect to eat with sweet or savory toppings. We love them with cream cheese and salmon!

I must confess that I didn’t know much about blini beyond how to eat them so in researching this recipe, I learned a lot. For instance, blini were traditionally prepared at the end of winter to celebrate the birth of the new sun, the round blini representing the sun. The Orthodox church adopted the pagan tradition and Maslenitsa or pancake week is still celebrated today. 

Originally blini were made with a yeasted dough and baked in an oven. In fact, even though they are pan-fried like pancakes these days, even in Russia, the Russian verb used to describe their preparation is still “bake.”

Sourdough Sprouted Spelt Blini

My recipe was adapted from one on La Recette du Jour,  using wholegrain spelt instead of the traditional buckwheat. If you don't have spelt or buckwheat whole grain wheat would also work. 

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups or 300ml milk

1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

7 oz or 200g discard sourdough starter

2/3 cup or 80g plain flour

1 cup or 120g sprouted spelt flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

butter for the griddle 

Method

Warm the milk slightly and add in the yeast and sugar. When the yeast is activated (that is, when the milk gets foamy on top) add it to the sourdough starter in a large mixing bowl and whisk until blended. 

Add both the flours, stir again, cover with cling film or a plastic bag, and leave to double in size. This should take 1 – 1 1/2 hours at room temperature. (If it’s chilly where you live right now, put the covered bowl in your kitchen sink filled with warm water.) 

Separate the eggs and set the whites aside in a large clean bowl. Stir the yolks into the batter with the salt and leave for about another hour.

The batter should now be spongy and bubbly.

When you are ready to cook the blini, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them gently into the batter.

Heat your pan or griddle over a low heat and smear with a little butter. 

Once it’s hot, ladle on small dollops of batter, whatever size you want your blini to be. I used a small cookie scoop but still managed to get wonky shaped blini. Mine would probably be booed out of new sun celebration for not being round. 

Never mind. Just keep telling yourself that looks don’t matter. It’s all about the taste.

When bubbles start to form and the bottom is browned, carefully turn the blini over with a spatula to cook the other side. 

When both sides are cooked, put them on a warmed plate and cover loosely with foil to keep them warm. 

Serve them with butter and jam or topped with cured salmon, cream cheese and capers. 

Enjoy! 

This month my Bread Baker friends are sharing breads made with whole grain flour. Check out the recipes below. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Zesty South Indian Kitchen: Einkorn and Spelt Whole Wheat Flour Sourdough Bread 
• Passion Kneaded: Marble Wheat Loaf 
• Magical Ingredients: Multigrain Carrot Rolls 
• The Wimpy Vegetarian: Oatmeal Rolls with Molasses
• Making Miracles: Seedy Soft Sandwich Bread 
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Sourdough Boules with Quinoa, Oats, and Sprouted Seeds
• Food Lust People Love: Sourdough Sprouted Spelt Blini 
• Sneha's Recipe: Spelt Banana Bread 
• A Messy Kitchen: Sweet Wheat Braid
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
• Ambrosia: Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread 

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakershome page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Sourdough Sprouted Spelt Blini!

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Croissants aux Amandes - Almond Croissants

Sweet almond filling and almond syrup transform stale croissants into delicious, more-ish Croissants aux Amandes or Almond Croissants. They are perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack. 

When we lived in Paris, we were fortunate to have an excellent bakery just up the block from our house. Many an afternoon found us taking a walk not only for exercise and to get out of the house but to pick up supplies for that afternoon meal the French call le goûter.

Le goûter literally translates to "the taste" but it's what the British would probably call afternoon tea and Americans an afterschool snack. It is an institution in France, meant to fill the hunger gap between lunch and the typically late (by American standards, anyway) family dinner. Le goûter was a tradition we heartily endorsed. 

Our bakery displayed a wide variety of baked goods every day but I was puzzled when I realized that almond croissants made a sporadic appearance. Upon inquiry, I was informed that they only made almond croissants when there were stale croissants leftover from the day before. Adding the almond filling and syrup was a way to salvage dry day-old croissants and turn them into a new delicious treat instead of letting them go to waste. Some days it seemed, I arrived too late if the supply had been small. 

Brilliant, right? With the consumer associations carefully monitoring the prices bakeries charge for bread, and competition from all the other many bakeries, I’m guessing margins are tight. According to NPR, there are more than 30,000 independent bakeries in France. All I know is that almond croissants are wonderful and it's a great idea not to waste. Win-win.

Croissants aux Amandes - Almond Croissants 

I used all-butter croissants bought at my nearby supermarket bakery department for this recipe. Mine were several days old but I kept them in the refrigerator from when they were purchased until I was ready to make them in to almond croissants. 

Ingredients

6 croissants, preferably day-old

6 tablespoons sliced almonds

For the almond paste aka frangipane:

3/4 cup or 75g almond flour (also called almond meal or ground almonds)

1/3 cup or 66g granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1/4 cup or 57g unsalted butter, at room temperature

A few drops pure almond extract

Pinch fine sea salt

For the sugar syrup:

1/2 cup or 120ml water

1/4 cup or 50g granulated sugar

2 tablespoons amaretto (or substitute a drop or two of almond extract)

For serving:

Powdered sugar

Method

To make the almond paste or frangipane, beat together the almond flour, sugar, egg, butter, almond extract and salt in a mixing bowl until well combined, scraping the sides of the bowl down occasionally. Keep beating until the paste is light and fluffy, another minute or two. 

Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare a large baking pan by lining it with parchment paper or a silicone liner.

To make the syrup, measure your water into a microwaveable vessel and add in the sugar. Heat for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. You can also do this step in a small pot on the stovetop. Stir in the amaretto or almond extract. 

Use a serrated knife to cut each croissant open horizontally, like a book, leaving one side uncut. 

Use a pastry brush to liberally and generously soak the insides of the croissants with the syrup. 

Put 2 tablespoons of the almond paste on one side of each croissant and spread it out to the very edges.

 

Close the croissants and press down gently. Divide the remaining almond paste between the croissants and spread it around to cover the tops. 

Sprinkle each croissant with 1 tablespoon of the sliced almonds and press them in slightly so they stick to the almond paste. 

Bake in your preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Turn the pan around halfway through so the almond croissants will brown evenly. 

Let them cool for a few minutes, then sprinkle each filled almond croissant with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

This Sunday FunDay we are sharing recipes for making croissants and recipes made with croissants because yesterday was National Croissant Day. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. Check out the links below: 

• Bean and Chicken Cassoulet by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cheesy Sausage and Croissant Casserole by Making Miracles
• Chocolate Croissants (Pain au Chocolate) by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Croissants aux Amandes (Almond Croissants) by Food Lust People Love
• Homemade Crescent Rolls by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Mardi Gras Cream Cheese King Cake Croissants by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Sourdough Croissants by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Yeasted Croissant by Sneha's Recipe

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin these Croissants aux Amandes AKA 

Almond Croissants!

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Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls #BreadBakers

Children and adults alike will love these soft ham and cheese elephant rolls. They are cute AND tasty! I mean really. Look at their golden ears and currant eyes!

I have no idea what I was browsing the internet for when I came across bread dough shaped like animals last year. There were hedgehogs, bunnies, puppy and kitty faces, even some starfish and so much more. 

That gave me this idea for a Bread Bakers theme and, bless their hearts, my bread baking friends were up for the challenge to start off the new year. Make sure you scroll down to the bottom to see the menagerie they’ve created! 

Many years ago, while we were living in Malaysia, we had several opportunities to visit an elephant sanctuary a short distance from our home. Whenever we had visitors to entertain, it became a highlight of their holiday. We’d put on our swimsuits topped with t-shirts and shorts, load up the car with fruit to share with the elephants and make our way through up the highway, then into the jungle. 

The sanctuary showed small groups of visitors a short introductory film where we learned about their work rescuing orphaned or threatened elephants and then came the exciting part, we got to feed and bathe them! 

(Hence the swimsuits – the latter part was a wet job! If you got really lucky, you got to ride one of the elephants down to the river for the bath. We all got lucky a few times over the years.)

Possibly due to this frequent early exposure, our younger daughter became a collector of elephant statues, big and small. I thought it would be fun to create some of those wonderful creatures and take photos of the elephant rolls with some of her collection. 

Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls

This recipe is adapted from one I found originally on the Japanese site Cookpad. Fortunately they also have a sister site in the UK which has been translated into English - which still took me a while to work through. I got there in the end!

Ingredients

For the dough:

1/3 cup or 80ml milk 

2 teaspoons butter

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 1/4 cups or 156g bread flour

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 egg, separated into white and yolk

For the filling:

3 oz or 85g thick sliced ham (I used leftover spiral cut cooked ham.)

1 3/4 oz or 50g extra sharp cheddar or your favorite aged cheese

For the eyes:

6 raisins or currants

Method

Warm the milk and butter in the microwave or in a small pot on the stove until the butter is melted and the milk is lukewarm to the touch. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the milk with the yeast and sugar and set the mixture aside to prove. Within a few minutes, you should see bubbles forming which assure you that the yeast is indeed active. 

Sift the flour and salt into the bowl, add the egg white and mix well to make a soft dough. 

Knead until your dough is smooth and elastic. Set the bowl in a warm place for the first rise of about 45 minutes till it doubles in size. 

Meanwhile, slice your ham into rounded pieces about 1/4 in or 1/2cm thick and 2 x 2.5 in or 5 x 6.5cm. Cut your cheese into similar size slices and lay one piece of cheese on each slice of ham. I also trimmed the top corners of the cheese off to match the curve of the ham. 

Once your dough has risen sufficiently, cut it into six equal pieces. (My dough weighed about 284g so each piece was about 47g, if you are a user of a digital scale.)

Roll each piece into balls and then roll them into long ovals a little more than twice the length of your ham.

Place the ham and cheese on top of the oval, a little closer to the right to leave room for cutting the trunk. Fold the dough up over the ham and cheese, pressing any air out and sealing the edges all around. 

Use a sharp knife to cut a triangle on the left side to form the trunk and a small slit on the right side for the tail. According to Feng Shui, elephant trunks pointed up indicate a good mood, so I turned mine up! 

Roll the little triangle of dough into a ball then roll it out in a small oval to form the elephant’s ear. Lightly press the ear on to attach it. 

Continue the process until all six ham and cheese elephant rolls are done. Use the end of a chopstick to press an eyehole into each. 

Place them on your baking pan lined with a silicone liner or baking parchment and put them in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes. I’ve discovered that my microwave oven is large enough to hold my pan so I heat a small bowl of water to almost boiling, then pop the pan on top and close the microwave door. Game changer for those of us without proving drawers!

In a small bowl, soak the six currants for the eyes in a little hot water. Leave them to plump. 

Depending on how long your oven takes to preheat, start that process setting the oven to 350°F or 180°C sometime in the 30 minutes of rising time. 

When the little elephants have risen sufficiently, whisk your egg yolk with two tablespoons of water and brush them with the elephants with the mixture. 

Drain the currants and dry them off. Use the end of your chopstick to poke one into each eyehole. 

Bake the elephants in your preheated oven for about 18-20 minutes or until they are puffed and golden. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for as long as you can resist before eating.  

Enjoy! 

Check out all of the other animal bread my Bread Bakers are sharing today!

• Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia
• Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu
• Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love
• Hedgehog Bread from Making Miracles
• Honey Bear Loaf from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sourdough Animal-shaped Breads from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Matcha Milk Bread Turtles from A Messy Kitchen
• Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Peacock Shaped Pizza Rolls from Magical Ingredients
• Piglet Bread Rolls from Sneha's Recipe
• Turtle Bread from Passion Kneaded

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls!

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Cheesy Tomato Tapenade Party Bread #BreadBakers

Parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes, capers and olives are blended with garlic to create the filling for this cheesy tomato tapenade party bread. Put it in the center of the table and let everyone help themselves!

At the beginning of what became this unusual year of social distancing and pandemic, I encouraged my Bread Baker group members to claim a month to host and choose a theme. So way back in February, our host Felice decided we should all bake tear-and-share breads. She wrote on our event page: “A Tear & Share, as it is known in the UK, is perfect for a holiday get-together. Sweet or savory, bake a tear & share (aka pull-apart bread) that celebrates the holiday season. It could be the shape, the flavors, or a tradition that fits with this theme.”

Little did Felice – or any of us know – that holiday get-togethers would end up being smaller or indeed postponed. Good thing that baking bread cheers us up!

I chose this bread because of the flavors, which remind me of a favorite party appetizer. Who doesn’t like a rich tapenade spread on tiny toasts? But I also think the shape would be beautiful to display, then share on a holiday table. 

Cheesy Tomato Tapenade Party Bread

The olives are the star ingredient for this pull-apart bread so use the best quality ones you can afford, preferably with the pits still in. I like dry oil-cured olives because the flavor is concentrated and the briny-ness they add really perks up a tapenade. This recipe is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe from his show Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast. 

Ingredients

4 cups or 508g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/4 cups or 295ml warm water

1/4 teaspoon sugar

4 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for the dough bowl and baking

3 1/2 oz or 100g whole black olives (100g was 32 dry oil cured olives)

1 clove garlic

6 soft sun-dried tomatoes (mine were already cut up – a little more than 1/2 oz or 16g by weight)

1 tablespoon drained capers 

3 1/2 oz or 100g Parmesan cheese, grated

Method

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

Add the yeast and sugar to the measuring cup with the warm water and give it a quick stir. Set it aside for a few minutes to make sure the yeast is active and starts bubbling.

Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour the yeasty water in. 

Stir in the flour from the outside to form a dough. I have a handy tool for this but you can certainly use a fork or spatula. 

Sprinkle your clean work surface with flour and knead the dough until smooth and springy, about 10 minutes. Roll it into a ball. Oil the bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and pop the dough ball back in, turning it over to coat the outside with the oil.

 Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or cling film and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about one hour or until it doubles in size.

Tip: If your kitchen is cold, as mine is right now, add warm water to a larger bowl (or your sink) and place the dough bowl in it. You may have to change out the water for more warm from time to time before the dough is fully risen. 

Meanwhile, pit the olives and peel the garlic. 

Use a mortar and pestle (or a small food processor) to turn them, along with the capers and sun-dried tomatoes, into a rough paste or tapenade. 

Set aside a little of your grated Parmesan for topping then add the rest into the tapenade. I added mine in two lots, whirring in between to combine thoroughly. 

If you are using a mortar and pestle, muddle in four tablespoons of olive oil. If you are using a small food processor, tip add the olive oil and pulse again to combine. 

Once it has risen properly, divide the dough into two equal pieces. (Mine weighed just over 14 oz or 400g each.) Sprinkle your clean work surface with flour and roll one piece into a circle about 11 in or 28cm wide. Line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner. Transfer the of the dough circle to the pan. 

Spread the cheesy tomato tapenade all over the dough and right to almost the edge.

Sprinkle your clean work surface with a little more flour and roll the other piece of dough into a circle about 11 in or 28cm wide.

Carefully place that dough circle on top of the tapenade and press down gently. 

Put a clean jam jar or drinking glass in the middle of the dough circle. Use a sharp knife to make 12 evenly spaced cuts from the jar to the outer edge.

I pretended mine was a clock and made cuts at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock then tried to make the two cuts in between each as evenly spaced as possible, which as it turns out, wasn’t so even. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter though so just do your best. 

Pick up each piece of dough and twist it three times before putting it back on the baking pan. 

Cover the dough lightly with a damp cloth or cling film and leave to prove again in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size. In retrospect, I should have baked this on a round pizza pan because it did rise beautifully. Unfortunately since it couldn't spread in all directions, it turned out a little wider on the sides. 

As you get near the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C. 

Sprinkle the dough with the reserved Parmesan cheese and drizzle on some olive oil. 

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 or until the bread is lovely and golden. 

Remove from the oven and leave to rest for about 15 minutes. Garnish with some little basil leaves, if desired, and serve. 

Enjoy! 

Check out all the other great tear-and-share breads we have for you today! Many thanks to our host, Felice from All That's Left Are The Crumbs.

• Baklava Danish Tear and Share Bread by A Messy Kitchen
• Buttery Soft Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cheesy Chicken Chutney Pull Apart Skillet Rolls by Sneha's Recipe
• Cheesy Tomato Tapenade Party Bread by Food Lust People Love
• Cranberry Cinnamon Star Bread by Making Miracles
• Fruit Mince Braided Star Bread by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Gingerbread Spice Christmas Tree Bread by Passion Kneaded
• Herb and Cheese Star Bread by Ambrosia
• Koledna Pitka - Bulgarian Christmas Eve Bread by Magical Ingredients
• Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Loaf by Palatable Pastime
• Sourdough Finnish Pulla Bread by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Spiced Chrysanthemum Bread by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Turkey, Cranberry and Cheese Pull Apart Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Cheesy Tomato Tapenade Party Bread! 

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