Thursday, November 25, 2010

November 18, 2010: Pizza pull-apart loaf

Pizza pull-apart loaf is our calendar recipe for the month of November.  I imagined it being just the thing to bake in the morning and pack for a picnic but I actually ended up preparing it for a weeknight dinner, roasting some broccoli and garlic on the neighbouring oven tray.

This pull-apart loaf is not quite like the light bready ones I've encountered at bakeries; it reminds me more of damper.  On the couple of mornings that I lightly toasted a leftover wedge for breakfast I remained full for hours longer than usual, uninterested in lunch until mid-afternoon.  So it's lucky that it didn't go stale for days - I needed a good 24 hours to work up an appetite for another slab!


Pizza pull-apart loaf

4 cups plain flour
2 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
90g butter, cold and chopped into cubes
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1 green capsicum, chopped
3/4 cup tasty cheese, grated
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup tomato-based pasta sauce

Preheat the oven to 190°C.   Line a baking tray with paper.

In a food processor, briefly pulse the flour and baking powder.  Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Transfer the butter/flour mixture to a large bowl and stir through the sun-dried tomatoes, capsicum and 1/2 cup of the cheese.  Add the milk and egg, combining it all to form a dough.  Knead the dough lightly, form it into a 20cm round and place it on the baking tray.

Use a knife to cut not-quite-through the to the bottom of the dough, so that you've marked out eight wedges.  Fill the wedge cuts with pasta sauce, then sprinkle the remaining cheese over the loaf.

Bake the loaf for 35-40 minutes, or until it's golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped at the base.  Allow it to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

5 comments:

  1. I could eat one of the bakery pull-aparts by myself in one sitting! So bad they are good.

    It would be lighter if you used yeast not baking powder, but I am sure you already knew that!

    Congrats on the Age feature too :)

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  2. Mmm, without yeast, it will be like damper.

    From wikipedia:
    """
    The basic ingredients of damper were flour, water, salt and sometimes milk. Baking soda could be used for leavening.
    """

    Also if using yeast, then high-protein flour also helps in making it fluffier.

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  3. Oh, this takes me back to "hanging out" at the shopping centre after school in high school and eating an entire Baker's Delight tomato pullapart! They always sounded better than they tasted... which means I reckon yours would be far better :)

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  4. Great recipe - and I have all the ingredients at home at the moment!

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  5. yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmm....cant wait to try this out. Even tho ive just eaten..my eyes are too greeedy ><

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