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Dec 18, 2012

Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche | Mission Accomplished

Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche

The Finish line. This is the last bread, bread #43, from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. I baked every single bread in the book. I've never baked an entire cookbook before and I'll probably never do it again, but I am proud that I did. It's always good to flex new muscles. I feel like I earned my journeyman status in the art of bread baking.

Let's talk about this bread.

Days to make? Three (don't worry, there's lots of down time here)
Worth it? Yes.

This bread is crazy good. Crazy good.

I remember when I first baked it I thought that it was just a giant hunk of bread gorgeousness. Bear with me because I took a lot of photos of this one.



The original recipe makes two large loaves. I've cut it in half for you here.

On day one, make a "sponge," a combination of sourdough starter, water, and flour.

On day two, roast the onions, mix the dough, let it rise, shape the loaves, and chill them overnight.

On day three, do a final shaping, and bake the loaves.



Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche

Sponge

1 ounce of 100% sourdough starter
4 ounces of room temperature water
5.6 ounces of unbleached bread flour

Roasted Onions

4 ounces  of onion, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
Pinch of ground black paper
Pinch of salt

Dough

16 ounces of unbleached bread flour
1 1/8 tsp instant yeast
9 ounces of lukewarm water (90 to 100 degrees F)
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 T olive oil
8 ounces grated Asiago cheese. You can also use Parmesan, Romano, or dry Jack cheese. I used a combination of what I had on hand. 
1 ounce of chopped chives
1 ounce of sliced scallions
Semolina flour or corn meal for dusting the pan. 

(the dough in this photo is for two loaves. This recipe is for one loaf.)

Instructions

Day One:
  • Make the sponge: Mix the sourdough starter, water, and flour until incorporated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it ferment for 8 hours. Refrigerate until the next day.
Day Two:
  • Remove the sponge from the refrigerator and allow it to sit for about an hour. 
  • Roast the onions: Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F and line a sheet pan with parchment. Mix the onions with the olive oil and spread them out over the sheet pan. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Bake the onions, stirring every five minutes, until golden brown. Cool and refrigerate.
  • Make the dough: Combine the flour and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer, add the water and sponge and mix until the dough forms a ball. Let it sit for five minutes, add the olive oil and salt, and mix until all of the ingredients are just combined. Add half of the cheese, the chives, and the scallions. 
  • Knead the dough on a lightly floured counter/bench by hand for about four minutes. Add more flour as needed to make a tacky but not sticky dough. Place the dough into an oiled dough rising bucket or bowl, spray the top of the dough with spray oil, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for for two to three hours, until doubled. 
  • Line a pie pan with parchment paper, spray the paper with spray oil, and sprinkle it with semolina or corn meal. 
  • Gently transfer the dough to a lightly floured counter being careful not to degas the dough. Gently shape the dough into a boule and place in the pie pan seam side down. Spray with oil, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and place the pan in the refrigerator overnight.
Day Three:
  • Remove the pan from the refrigerator about two hours before baking and let rise for about two hours.

  • Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F and place a steam pan on the bottom rack, and another rack right above it. 
  • Brush the top of the dough with olive oil and dimple the loaf with your fingertips by pressing almost through to the bottom of the loaf. 


  • Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and the roasted onion pieces. Allow the loaf to sit for about a half an hour. Boil one cup of water and prepare a spray bottle for the steam oven. 
  • Place the pie pan on the oven rack, add the boiling water to the steam pan, and close the oven. Spray the oven with water three times, every 30 seconds. Lower the oven temperature to 450 degrees F and bake the bread for 20 minutes. Rotate the loaf 180 degrees and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 195 to 200 degrees F.  If it is browning too fast, tent with foil and continue baking. 
  • Move the finished loaf to a rack and cool for at least an hour. 
  • Slice and serve.

This is killer good.

This recipe is adapted from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. Buy the book. You won't regret it.

Would you like to comment?

  1. This truely is a killer recipe!!!! Love the combo of asiago and roasted onions.

    I had nominated you for the 'Liebster Award'. Please grab your badge from here

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for leading me to your recipe Karen!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm not seeing the step where you mix the sponge with the dough?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorry about that!! Add it with the water.

      Delete

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