Garlic and Cheese Bread

There’s no better way to put a smile on your guests’ faces than by presenting this garlic bread with cheese as finger food at a dinner. They'll go crazy! It results in a bread that’s crusty on the outside and super soft on the inside, with the outstanding and delicious flavor of the cheese blend and the garlic. Without a doubt, an opportunity to make the saying come true: You won't leave a single crumb!

To bake this bread recipe and get an ultra-crispy crust, it’s ideal to do it in a cast iron casserole. You can use a traditional cast iron casserole or, as in our case, the Le Creuset cast iron bread casserole. Thanks to the high heat that iron reaches, together with the retention of the steam generated by the dough, you’ll get the baking result we all want.

I hope you all enjoy it a lot. Let's get the bread! I’m leaving a video below so you can clearly see how easy it is to follow the step by step.

Ingredients

• 540 g of bread flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp (10 g) powdered sugar
• 10 g of active dry yeast
• 625ml – 750ml of warm water
• 60 ml of olive oil
• 60 ml of melted butter
• 3 garlic cloves, grated
• 100 g grated mozzarella cheese
• 100 g of grated cheddar cheese
• 30 g grated Parmesan
• 10 g of chopped parsley

Preparation

1. In a bowl, add the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast, and mix with a spatula.
2. If you're going to make the dough with the KitchenAid stand mixer, add the water and oil to the mixer bowl and gradually add the previous flour mixture. Turn it on and mix with the paddle attachment until you've finished adding all the flour. Switch to the Kitchenaid dough hook attachment and knead until you have a smooth dough, alternating with rests every 2 minutes of kneading.
3. If kneading by hand, mix the water and oil with the flour mixture in a bowl and, once combined, transfer to a floured surface and knead, with intermittent rests, until you have a smooth dough.
4. Brush a steel or glass bowl with oil, and place the dough in it, covering the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp cloth. Leave in a warm place to rest until it doubles in size (approx 1 hour).
5. After resting, remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a floured surface. Shape it into a round ball.
6. Place the ball on the base of the Le Creuset Bread Oven, cover with the domed lid and let rest for another 25-30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
8. Place it in the oven with the lid on and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and continue baking.
9. Bake for about 45 minutes, until it looks golden. Tap the bread: it should sound hollow.
10. While the bread is in the oven, use the KitchenAid chopper to blend the melted butter with the garlic.
11. After taking the bread out of the oven, let it rest and cool a little.
12. Cut it into 8 wedges on the top (use a good bread knife, like the specific bread from Pallarés, which slices the crust like a devil), and insert the melted garlic butter into the cuts. Also, insert and press the mozzarella and cheddar cheese into the cuts.
13. Sprinkle the outside with Parmesan and parsley and return the bread to the oven for 5 or 10 more minutes, so the cheese melts (if the bread was still warm, the melting process will be quick).
14. Remove from the oven and enjoy while it’s hot.

Note:

There are several benefits of using the Le Creuset bread oven:

• the high temperature provided by the iron, which ensures the dough cooks perfectly;
• its dome, which enables ideal circulation of hot air for perfect cooking of the dough, as well as its airtight seal to keep the air from escaping;
• besides baking round bread you can make in it rolls, shortcrust pastry tarts, puff pastry tarts, brioche breads and all kinds;
• and when you're not using it as a bread oven, the oven base is a perfect grill for grilling meats over the fire and in the oven.

If you don't have a bread oven, you can use a Le Creuset cast iron casserole, you will also achieve good baking and crust results with it.