Bread Baking Babes with a stuffed bread

We are excited to have our BBBBBabe Katie ("Thyme for cooking") as our kitchen of the month this time. She's great in putting all the Babes bakes together in post every month and we love her for that. But how wonderful is it to have her as head chef this month. We love it Katie! And what a wonderful, fragrant and delicious recipe she picked. Onions, herbs and cheese.... can't go wrong. I used part whole wheat to make it even more delicious and healthy. I was suprised how the onions reduced when caramelising them, but still I thought it was enough for this bread. The cheese on top fell off for the most part when slicing it, but it was all delicious. Thanks Katie for this wonderful recipe.

You will have a go at this too right? Become our Bread Baking Buddy and rewards yourself with a wonderful loaf and a Bread Baking Buddy Badge that Katie will send you to add to your post. Make, bake, post, taste and tell and send all to our kitchen of the month Katie, so she can add your bakes to the round up. Deadline 26th of the month.

Onion, Herb & Cheese Stuffed Bread

(makes one loaf)

(PRINT recipe)

Dough:

1/2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

60 g water

30 g milk

2 TBsp olive oil

1 egg

1 egg yolk

140 g whole wheat flour

155 g white flour, may not use all

3/4 tsp salt

Filling:

1 tsp butter

2 tsp olive oil

4 medium pink onions, chopped (300 g)

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 tsp sugar

15 fresh sage leaves, chopped

1 tsp rosemary, chopped

black pepper, freshly ground

1 TBsp Dijon-style mustard

90 g cheese of choice (I used Parmesan and Dutch Gouda)

1 egg, beaten

Dough

In large bowl, dissolve sugar in water. Sprinkle in yeast; let stand for 10 minutes or until frothy. Whisk in milk, eggs, egg yolks, oil and salt. Add the whole wheat flour and half of the white flour and stir to make soft dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface; knead for 10 minutes, adding enough of the remaining flour to make dough smooth and elastic.

Place in greased bowl, turning to grease all over. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise in warm draft-free place for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

Filling

Meanwhile, in large skillet, heat butter with oil over medium heat. Add onions, shallots, sugar and cook until tender. Reduce heat, add sage, rosemary, pepper and continue to cook until caramelized, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes longer. Let cool to room temperature.

Shape

Grease baking sheet or line with parchment paper; punch down dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface. Roll out into 30 x 27 cm rectangle.Transfer to prepared pan.

Spread mustard lengthwise in 3-inch (8 cm) strip down center of rectangle.Top with onion mixture. Sprinkle with 3/4 of the cheese.

Using sharp knife and starting at 1 corner of dough, make diagonal cuts (2.5 cm) apart almost to filling to form strips along 1 long side of dough. Repeat on other side, cutting diagonal strips in opposite direction.

Alternating strips from each side, fold strips over filling to resemble braid, overlapping ends by 2.5 cm and brushing with some of the egg to seal.

Cover with towel; let rise in warm place for 30 to 40 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Bake

Brush top with egg. Bake in center of 350°F (180°C) oven for 25 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Sprinkle remaining cheese down centre of braid; return to oven for 5 minutes.

Serve warm or let cool completely on rack.