BBD # 29 Bread in Pots: Jamie Oliver's way

This month our host is The Bread Experience and she chose this very nice and appropriate theme.

Few days later I found this great recipe in The Return of the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

and it was already baked in a pot !

This is the original recipe I halved it and used only 1 sachet of yeast, didn't use the sugar and salt and used only feta (today is Labor Day and every store is closed )

Ingredients

30g/1oz fresh yeast or 3x 7g sachets dried yeast

30g honey

625ml (just over a pint) tepid water

1kg (just over 2lb) strong bread flour

30g/1oz salt

400g mixed cheeses , grated or torn up

4 large egg yolks

10 slices prosciutto

1 handful of basil, torn up.

Firstly, prepare all your ingredients so they are ready to add to the flour: grate and crumble all your cheese and tear up your prosciutto and basil.

Then, dissolve the yeast and honey in half the tepid water.

In a very large bowl (or on a clean surface) make a pile of the flour, salt, cheese, prosciutto, and basil. Make a well in the centre and pour in all the dissolved yeast mixture. With four fingers of one hand, make circular movements from the centre outwards, slowing bringing in more and more of the flour until all the yeast mixture is soaked up. Then pour in the other half of the tepid water and the egg yolks into the centre and gradually incorporate all the flour to make a moist dough. (Certain flours may need a little more flour, so adjust until you have the right consistency).

Then comes the kneading! This is fun, but it don’t half get tiring. However you mustn’t stop! Roll, push and fold the dough over and over for at least 5 minutes. This develops the gluten and structure of the dough. If the dough sticks to your hands (which it will), just rub them together with a little extra flour.

Flour your hands well, and lightly flour the top of the dough. Make it into a roundish shape and place on a baking tray. Deeply score a cross into the dough with a knife – this will allow it to relax and prove with ease. Leave it to prove in a warm, moist, draught-free place until it’s doubled in size. If you want to speed things up then cover it with cling-film. This will take around 40 minutes or so.

When the dough has doubled in size you need to knock the air out of it by bashing it around for a minute. Now you can shape it into whatever shape is required. I divided my dogh in 12 rolls and put six of them in the pots (9 cm diameter) I rolled the rest in buns. Proof until doubled in size.

Bake in a preheated oven (220°C, 425° F) for about 30 minutes.