BBBabes bake Bulgarian bread

And off to Bulgaria we go this month for our bread recipe. Tanna ("My kitchen in half cups") is our Kitchen of the month and she choose a savory bread recipe with feta and herbs for us to bake. (she will be on with her bake later).

I just had baked this one from Jane Mason's book "Book of buns". In fact I finished baking all the recipes from her book recently and I can highly recommend her book when you love bread and especially small breads.

The bread is baked as a whole and cut it pieces afterwards.. so not a real "small bread" or bun in my book, but who cares.
I used a little less feta than the recipe said (I didn't have more) and some flat leaf parsley.

You can bake along with us as a Bread Baking Buddy, post about it, tell us about is and sent all this to Tanna and she will send you the Bread Baking Buddy Badge to add to your post if you want. And most important of all you get to bake this wonderful bread and eat it too! Get baking!

 Tootmanik

(makes 9 to 16 pieces)

(PRINT recipe)

dough
450 g bread flour

2 g instant yeast

250 g milk, warm to room temp.

9 g salt
100 g butter

filling
1  egg
200 g feta cheese crumbled

50 g butter melted and cooled
paprika powder for garnish, optional
fresh herb(s), optional

glaze: 1 egg and 1 tsp water

20 x 20 cm tin at 5cm deep, greased and lined

Add the salt and knead it by hand or with a dough hook in the standmixer, until the dough is souple and elastic. Then add the butter in pieces and knead for 10 minutes. Place the dough in the bowl, cover and allow to rest for 2 hours.

Mix the egg together with the feta cheese in a bowl.  Melt the butter and allow to cool.
Pull the dough out of the bowl onto an unfloured surface.

Divide the dough into 9 equal pieces.  Dust with flour and roll one piece out into a rectangle of  10 x 10 cm. If the dough springs back, cover and let rest for 10 minutes until it relaxes. Brush with melted butter.

Put the flour into a bowl and make a well.  Sprinkle the yeast in the well and pour on the milk. Sprinkle the top with the surrounding flour and let rest for 1 hour.

Take another piece of dough and roll it out the same size, place on top of the first and brush with butter. Then place the third piece of dough, rolled out the same size and place on top of the first two, this time don’t brush it!

Using a rolling pin, roll the stack of dough into a rectangle the size of your baking pan and lift it up (you can roll it around your rolling pin if that is easier) and place it in the prepared baking pan.

Repeat with the final 3 pieces of dough, and place the stack on top of the dough in the pan.

Seal in the cheese by pressing together the outside edge of the dough stack with your hands.  Pull down the very top layer of the bread and stick it well on or even under the rest of the dough, so the dough will stay in place during baking. Cover with a dry tea towel and allow to rest for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 230°C. Brush the top of the dough with the melted butter and sprinkle some paprika on it if you like.
Pop the pan in the preheated oven and immediately turn the oven down to 200°C.
Bake for 35 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Place on a wire rack and allow it to cool down a bit.  When it is still warm (not hot), cut it into squares and enjoy with a salad or some soup.

Brush it with melted butter and spread over half the feta cheese mixture and soeme fresh herbs if wanted. Repeat with the next 3 pieces of dough, and place that stack on top of the first stack.  Brush this with melted butter and spread it with the remaining half of the feta cheese mixture and any optional toppings.

(Adapted from “Book of buns" – Jane Mason)