Bread Week fills me with fear but is never as disastrous as I expect – I should really make bread more often.

So, I don’t like Rye bread so that ruled that out, I’ve made ciabatta before (and they were so *cough* wonderful *cough* that I gave them to somebody else) so that just left the stuffed/filled showstopper loaf option.

Erk.

I knew I was never going to make a ‘showstopper’ beauty so decided to just try and pull off a successful bake. I kept it simple and had a fairly ‘dry’ filling to try and minimise gaps and unbaked middles – Prosciutto & Parmesan Bread.

Prosciutto & Parmesan Bread

Ingredients:

• 450g strong plain white flour
• 50g grated parmesan
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp ground black pepper
• 7g sachet fast action yeast
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 250ml lukewarm water
• 50g Prosciutto ham
• Extra flour for sprinkling OR cornmeal

Method:

1. Put the flour, cheese, yeast, salt and pepper in your mixer and, using a dough hook, mix in the olive oil, egg and water on minimum speed until it forms a soft dough.
2. Knead for one minute on minimum setting and then four minutes on speed 1 or until the dough is soft and elastic. Remove the bowl from the mixer, cover it with a damp teatowel or lightly oiled cling film and prove in a warm place for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
3. Use the dough hook on minimum speed for 30-60 seconds to gently knock the dough back. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and divide into two. Flatten each half into a round and sprinkle over half of the ham.
4. Fold each piece of dough in half then sprinkle over the remaining ham.
5. Roll each piece up and tuck in the sides to form stubby loaves.
6. Transfer to a floured baking sheet (or one dusted with cornmeal if you have some to hand), leaving a gap between the loaves. Cover again and leave to rise for about 30 minutes.
7. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200·C
8. Brush the tops of your loaves with water and sprinkle with flour/cornmeal. Slash the top of the loaves then bake for 20 minutes or until the loaves are golden and sounds hollow when tapped.
9. Cool on a wire rack.
10. Slice and serve!

I didn’t really slash my loaves bravely enough so they looked quite plain and I think I left them in a few seconds too long as they were edging out of the ‘golden’ colour range and into the ‘dark brown’ one. I also didn’t distribute my ham very evenly in one loaf as it was about four slices in before I got to any. When I did find it though, it made a very pretty swirl which was satisfying.

The bread itself was a lovely texture and not too dense, it has a soft crust and has a subtle cheese flavour that isn’t overpowering and is well complemented by the sweet, salty Prosciutto. It is incredibly moreish.

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