Parmesan Bread with Cracked Pepper Recipe

While my heart belongs to our go-to no-knead bread recipe, I’ll admit that a Parmesan bread with cracked black pepper recipe has been tempting me for months. Finally, I dove in and tried it out. The original recipe is from Bonnie Ohara’s Bread Baking for Beginners, which I’ve raved about before. We ended up with two savory and spicy loaves that we ate like dessert. I can’t say it will become a part of our weekly meals, but this Parmesan Bread recipe is too tasty not to enjoy whenever we have a free afternoon to bake.

This makes two loaves of bread.

Note: Don’t make the mistake of starting this in the late afternoon unless you love baking at night. I jumped into this too late, and we finished baking the second loaf at 11:00pm. Whoops!

Parmesan Bread Recipe Ingredients

8 Grams Instant Yeast

730 Grams Lukewarm Water

900 Grams All-Purpose Unbleached Flour (Note: We used King Arthur)

100 Grams Soft Whole-Wheat Flour (Note: We used stone-ground)

20 Grams of Salt

200 Grams of Grated Parmesan Cheese (Note: You can also use cubed, but it doesn’t melt as well, and I prefer having the all-over taste of cheese rather than biting into chunks of cheese).

10 Grams Cracked Black Pepper

Special Equipment

Dutch Oven

Dough Scraper

Recipe Steps

Step 1 Pour the water into a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast into the warm water and swish it around. Let it sit for 5 minutes to be sure that the yeast is still active.

whole wheat and all-purpose flour in stainless steel bowls Parmesan Bread Cracked Pepper Parmesan Bread Recipe Country Bread Baking Those Someday Goals — Just a small amount of whole wheat flour compared to the all-purpose

Step 2 Gently add both flours on top of the yeast and water. Let it sit for a minute. Then sprinkle the salt over the flour.

Step 3 Mix using your hands until the dough is thoroughly combined. It looks a little raggedy at this point.

Soaking in water in steel bowl Parmesan Bread Cracked Pepper Parmesan Bread Recipe Country Bread Baking Those Someday Goals — Soaking in the water and resting.

Step 4 Let the dough sit for 30 minutes to allow the water to be fully absorbed.

Step 5 Lightly flour your worktop and then remove the dough from the bowl for kneading. Knead the dough for approximately 7-10 minutes until it has tightened up.

After kneading dough in steel bowl to rest Parmesan Bread Cracked Pepper Parmesan Bread Recipe Country Bread Baking Those Someday Goals

Step 6 Wet your hands and fold the cheese and cracked pepper into the kneaded dough. Note: I chose to do this in stages rather than pouring everything into one bowl and working it.

Parmesan Bread Cracked Pepper Parmesan Bread Recipe Country Bread Baking Those Someday Goals — Ready to start folding in the Parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper!

Step 7 Cover the bowl with a floured towel or insert it into a plastic bag and tie it closed. It should rise for approximately 3 hours or until the dough is noticeably lighter, larger, and airier.

After the Rise Parmesan Bread Cracked Pepper Parmesan Bread Recipe Country Bread Baking Those Someday Goals

Step 8 Flour a worktop, remove the dough and divide it into two pieces using your metal dough scraper.

Splitting dough Parmesan Bread Cracked Pepper Parmesan Bread Recipe Country Bread Baking Those Someday Goals

Step 9 Pull the far side of the dough towards you. Then turn the dough a quarter turn, and pull it towards you again. Repeat this process to create some tension across the dough and shape it into a round. Repeat on the second dough ball.

Step 10 Let the shaped dough balls rest under a floured kitchen towel for 30 minutes.

Step 11 Time to shape the dough. Pull the side farthest from you down to the middle. Pull the side closet to you to meet in the middle. Turn the dough a quarter turn and repeat the process. Do the same with the second dough ball.

Step 12 Place each dough round onto a floured kitchen towel in bread baskets. The seam should be facing up for this proof. Allow the bread dough to sit for 60 to 90 minutes.

Step 13 As the dough sits, preheat your Dutch oven (lid on) in the oven at 475 degrees F.

Step 14 Test the dough by gently poking it with a finger – if it stays indented, it is ready to bake.

Step 15 Remove the dough from the basket and place it onto a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. The parchment will keep the bread from burning and help you quickly transfer the loaf in and out of the blazing hot Dutch oven.

Step 16 Transfer the dough into the Dutch Oven and bake with the lid on for 25 minutes.

Step 17 Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes unless the dough is very light. If so, add another 2-3 minutes for final browning.

Step 18 Remove the first loaf for cooling on a rack (approx.. 30 minutes). As that is cooling, you can bake the second loaf.

Final Parmesan Bread Cracked Pepper Parmesan Bread Recipe Country Bread Baking Those Someday Goals

Interior crumb Parmesan Bread Cracked Pepper Parmesan Bread Recipe Country Bread Baking Those Someday Goals — We cut into this a little early, but it had a wonderfully soft texture, a savory flavor from the cheese, and a bite of spice from the pepper. Yum!

Loaf on cooling rack Parmesan Bread Cracked Pepper Parmesan Bread Recipe Country Bread Baking Those Someday Goals — The second loaf had an extra half hour of rise, but looks every bit as delicious as the first one.

Parmesan Bread with Cracked Pepper Serving Suggestions

Tons of Italian-inspired meals would work really well with this bread. The spice of the pepper makes this a delicious addition to pasta meals. You can dip it into a prepared olive oil. It works well against a fried egg and ham for breakfast or lunch sandwiches. Really, the options are endless.

Pinterest Final Parmesan Bread Cracked Pepper Parmesan Bread Recipe Country Bread Baking Those Someday Goals

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