Bread crown in skillet with spinach and artichoke gratin cream dip

Patri, author of Sabores&Momentos , brings us a recipe to enjoy dipping: an easy-to-make bread recipe prepared in a pan , which is added to cream cheese, spinach and artichokes, a combination that is perfect for dipping bread (pun intended! !)

Already fully immersed in this beautiful season that is autumn, the flavors and textures become warm to keep us warm... But that the recipes continue to be easy and resultonas is what we all continue looking for.

Just this week we had a very bad time, so instead of going out to dinner on the weekend, we decided to invite some friends to have some appetizers and some wine at home. I wanted to surprise but with something simple and, look how precious I ended up succeeding with that night…. A crown of freshly made bread with the gratin cream of spinach and artichokes in the center to "dip"!!

Le Creuset skillet pan

You will think that it is very elaborate but not at all! I can promise you that it doesn't have any complications, you make the bread dough in the morning and leave it rising. Then you assemble the balls of dough and you will get a delicious "pull-apart" of individual buns, crispy on the outside and incredibly soft on the inside. The same dip cream , you leave it made in the morning, reserve it in the fridge and just assemble and bake for a little while before your guests arrive.

Spinach, as I already told you in the last recipe I shared here with you for Creamed Spinach , prepared in any way, is an excellent vegetable. And the artichokes, in this case, good quality canned artichoke hearts are a true delight. A few strokes of the blender together with a few more ingredients from the bottom of the fridge and we will have the cream ready. We assemble our fantastic Le Creuset cast iron Skillets and no one will resist: I love the thousand possibilities they offer and how fun it is to serve our dishes directly from the oven to the table, with that rustic touch that I love so much.

Skillet bread crown with spinach and artichoke gratin cream dip

GRADES:

• With this recipe you will have enough both bread dough and artichoke and spinach dip cream to complete two medium skillets or one large one.
• Above all, let the skillet fresh out of the oven, temper before serving it and always surround the handle with a cloth to avoid burning yourself.

Ingredients (for 8-10 people)

For the mass:

• 475g of conventional flour
• 1 packet of dry yeast (7g)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 240ml of hot milk (but not burning)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable/sunflower oil

For the spinach and artichoke cream:

• 200g of fresh spinach leaves
• 180g of canned artichoke hearts, drained and chopped (high quality)
• 150gr Philadelphia cream cheese
• 120ml of "sour cream" (or failing that 100g of cottage cheese and 1 natural yogurt -Bio- skimmed)
• 4 heaped tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 ½ tablespoons sifted flour
• 1 small garlic clove, degermed (optional)
• A few drops of Tabasco sauce
• Salt and pepper
• 2 heaping tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 50g grated Emmental cheese
• Grated mozzarella cheese for gratin

Preparation

To make the dough:

1. In a large bowl , or the Kitchen Aid bowl (with the dough hook), we put half of the flour and the salt.
2. In a jug we heat the milk (in the microwave) without burning it and then add the yeast, stir and let it rest for a few minutes.
3. Pour the milk with the yeast into the flour bowl and add the vegetable oil. We begin to mix (by hand or with our robot). Add the rest of the flour and continue kneading for about 7-8 minutes, until you get a smooth and homogeneous dough.
4. Transfer to a bowl greased with oil, cover with a transparent film and let rise for at least an hour and a half or two.

In the meantime, we take the opportunity to prepare the cream now:

5. Put the clean spinach leaves in a glass bowl with a couple of teaspoons of water and seal with transparent film. Microwave for 1-2 minutes depending on the power of yours. We take it out and let it rest like this covered for about 15 minutes to cool.

6. We drain them well and put them in the glass of a blender . Add the rest of the ingredients and beat everything well until you get a homogeneous cream without bumps. Pour into a bowl, cover with film and reserve in the refrigerator.

Tokyo Design Fleur de Ligne porcelain bowl and skillet pan Le Creuset

We continue with the dough and conclude with the assembly and subsequent baking:

7. On a lightly floured surface, lightly knead the dough to extract all the gas, giving it the shape of a chorizo ​​so that it can be cut into equal slices. With a very sharp dough cutter or knife , we are cutting the portions until we obtain 16, which we will shape into balls. The best way is to start by cutting into two equal parts, these in turn into another two equal parts, and so on until you get 16 that, using a small scale, weigh the same gram up, gram down, so that the crown is level.
8. Generously spread the skillet pans with butter (or confectionery spray ) and also some plating rings (or bowls suitable for oven upside down, which serve us to mark the circle) and position the balls around it. Always pressing them so that they fit us well.
9. We melt a little butter and with a kitchen brush we paint them all so that later they look well toasted when baking. Cover in transparent film and let them rest for another 30 minutes.
10. Preheat the oven to 180º with the rack in the center.
11. We remove transparent film from the skillets, extract the plating rings (or the bowls that you have used) and generously fill the centers with cream. Think that later there has to be enough cream to dip!!
12. We cover with grated mozzarella cheese and some Parmesan if we had left over and put in the oven for 30 minutes until the buns begin to brown and when touched with the nails they sound hollow. Then we take the skillets out of the oven, add a little more cheese on top, raise the rack to the upper position and put our crowns back in, this time to brown for 5 minutes with the grill.
13. Once ready, take them out very carefully so as not to burn ourselves and let them cool for a few minutes until they begin to warm up a bit.

And ready to serve and surprise your guests!! I hope you liked it.

Note: Recipe adapted from the Seasons and Suppers blog