Cheese breads
Cheese breads
Cheese breads are very popular in Egypt and can be found in just about every bakery. It’s wonderful bread.
The bread itself is delightfully light almost a cross between a bread and a pastry. Combine that with a delicious salty cheese and herb filling and it brings the bread to life.
No endless kneading required !
Although they look quite fancy , they really are incredibly easy to make. You don’t need to do anything complicated. No need to Knead for ages.
You just need patience
All it takes is patience. You have to give the dough time to rise up in all its glory.
You don’t need a fancy bread making machine.
You don’t even need fancy bread-making flour, it’s made with ordinary plain flour, which you probably already have in your kitchen cupboard.
They’re great as a snack. I love them for breakfast. They’re also great with soup.
There are other alternatives
I’ve also made them replacing the the cheese filling with a dollop of Nutella and they were amazing too.
This recipe for cheese breads is the best !
I’ve been making cheese breads for so long and yet I’m still amazed at how good they look when they come out of the oven. For so long I had utter failures with bread and yet this recipe is so forgiving and seems to work every time and you don’t even need to spend time kneading it. It just works!
Never argue with your dad!
My dad said it’s possibly the best bread he’d ever tasted, and I would never want to argue with my dad.
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm milk
- 1tbspn sugar
- 1 tbsp. dried yeast
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. butter (optional)
- 4 cups plain flour
For the filling
- 200g feta cheese
- a handful of fresh herbs (flat leaf parsley or dill) finely chopped – (optional)
- 1 egg – lightly whisked
To finish your cheese breads
- 1 egg yolk
- black cumin / sesame seeds
Equipment needed
You’ll need 2 large baking trays – lightly oiled
How to make your cheese breads
Let the yeast start the magic
Put the warm milk, sugar, and yeast together in a bowl give them a quick stir and then leave them for about 10 minutes until they start to bubble.
Add the wet ingredients
Add the vegetable oil, egg, salt, and butter to the yeast mixture and mix well.
Now for the flour
Put the flour into a large bowl and make a hollow in the centre.
Pour the yeast mix into the hollow that you have made.
Stir the yeast mix and gradually the flour will come in from the sides and start to mix in and form a soft dough.
*if the dough feels too sticky to handle add a sprinkle of flour – but not too much you want the dough to stay as light as possible.
* if the dough feels too hard and dry add a teaspoon of water to loosen it up
Knead for just a minute
Once all the flour has been incorporated, knead the dough for a minute just to bring it together into a smooth ball.
Put the dough somewhere nice and warm to rise.
Pour a drop of oil into your hands and rub it over the dough.
Put the dough back into the bowl, cover it with a lid or cling film and leave it in a warm place until it doubles in size, this will take about an hour.
Mix the filling for your cheese breads
Meanwhile mix together the feta cheese and herbs(if you have chosen to use them) with the whisked egg ready to stuff the bread.
Knock back the dough
When the dough has doubled in size, tip it out onto a floured surface and knead it for just a couple of minutes to knock out a little of the air and to bring it together into a smooth dough again.
Ok let’s make these beautiful cheese breads
Divide the dough into 2
Pre-heat the oven
Pre-heat the oven to 180 C / 350 F
Knead your dough into a smooth ball
On a lightly floured surface, take the first half of the dough and bring it together into a smooth ball.
Roll out your dough into a large circle, that looks like a pizza
Using a rolling pin – Roll the ball of dough into a large circle, about 14”across.
Slice it like a pizza
Cut the dough (like you would a pizza or a cake) into 8 portions
Add the filling for your cheese breads
Put a spoonful of the cheese and herb mix on each portion, where the numbers would be on a clock.
Roll your cheese breads to look like croissants
Take a portion at a time and starting from the outside of the circle, take the two outside corners and bring them together and forward over the cheese. Then continue rolling it forward until you reach the centre (it will look similar to a croissant).
Roll each portion in the same way until all 8 portions are rolled.
Repeat the process
Take the second ball of dough and repeat this process until all the 16 cheese breads have been stuffed and rolled.
Put them on baking trays
Put your rolled cheese breads onto the prepared baking trays. Leave about a 3cm space between your breads because they will get bigger.
Prepare your beautiful cheese breads for baking
Using the mixed egg yolk as an egg wash, brush it over the bread.
Then sprinkle them with black cumin seeds or sesame seeds.
Allow your breads to rise again
Cover your cheese breads with a clean tea towel. And allow them to sit in a warm place for about ½ an hour. During this time the breads will begin to puff up again and rise.
Pop them in the oven
Put your breads into the oven and allow them to cook for about 20 minutes until they are golden brown.
Be prepared to be blown away at just how good your beautiful cheese breads look !
Cheese breads are at their best eaten the same day or the day after. In my experience, the family seldom even let them last that long, they are so popular.
I do hope you’ll try this recipe. I guarantee that you’ll be amazed at just how good they are.
Share your photos too it ‘ll be great to see how you got on.