Fine Herbs and Gorgonzola Bread

Are you fond of bread? Well, who isn’t?

Bread is one of the most eaten foods in the world, it exists in almost every culture around the world and through time. There are sweet breads, salty breads, plain, filled and so on. Some of them have religious or comemorative meanings, others are for everyday meals.

Complex as it seems, bread is basically just a mixture of water and flour.

Olivier Anquier, an excellent french boulanger who lives in Brazil would say that bread has four basic ingredients: flour, yeast, salt and water.

The secret of the bread resides more on how to work the dough than in what it contains.

There are even breads that don’t use yeast. The cristian wafer used in cerimonies may have or may have not yeast, depending on the church. In attempts of reintegrating Catholic church with the Orthodox church (circa Xth Century) this has been a major issue. Several day-by-day breads around the world don’t use yeast as well, and of course, they have to be very thin.

The salt increases the flexibility of the dough, which is important for it to grow properly instead of cracking and letting the gas go. And, of course, gives the salty taste to salty bread. But even sweet breads need a pinch of salt.

The important things about working the dough are (a) to exercise its flexibility by straining it (without riping it off) and (b) to air it by letting air go into the dough. There are plenty other techniques for this and that, but this will do for a fisrt time boulanger.

Making bread is actually very simple, you put a mountain of flour with the salt on a table (or a bowl), make a hole in the center, put cold water and the yeast in tiny pieces on the water. And start to work until all the flour has been incorporated. Keep working (airing and straining) the dough for a while, until it is very elastic.

Despite popular belief, cold water does work and makes the dough grow more slowly, but better. Don’t be afraid to use it, no matter how cold it is.

Master Anquier says the right proportion is

• 1Kg of flour
• 600 ml of water
• 20g of yeast
• 20g of salt

Hoever, there are different approaches to the subject.

The dough must remain in a comfortable place (like the oven, turned off and cold), covered with a humid cloth until it doubles its size, then you have to work it again, make the breads and let them double size again. Then you can put them on low pre-heated oven (about 180~190 Celcius degrees), until they are golden on the oustide.

That is a basic bread, that you can make automatically when you get used to it. A serious boulanger will see that is more important to learn the proper details of working the bread that seeking for new recipes and thinking in new things to add to it.

However, there are plenty good things to add to the bread, a simple google search will reveal a miriad of possibilities. And this is when the title of this article comes in.

Last week I had the idea that adding to bread a taste of gorgonzola, fine herbs and a little olive oil.

Fine herbs is a french mixture of arsley, chervil, chives and tarragon, that you can buy combined or combine yourself, either fresh or dry. A fine olive oil and a good gorgonzola cheese are essencial for a good result.

Put about 4 tablepoons of olive oil per Kg of flour, and put the grated cheese and herbs to your taste while working the dough. Make sure you work enough the dough so the cheese and the herbs are evenly distributed.

Have fun!