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Mar 16, 2020

Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread

This Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread is so soft and moist, and of course, cheesy!


Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread





This potato, thyme, and cheese pavé bread is delicious for dinner rolls, toast, and even sandwiches, and it stays fresh for days.



How to make this potato cheese bread with thyme. 


To make this bread, you begin by combining flour with some cold butter with your hands until it's crumbly. I'm not usually very skilled at this so I typically use a food processor.

This time I didn't want to have to wash the food processor, so I briefly froze the butter and then grated the butter with a box grater before tossing it in the flour. Magical!


Grated butter





Next, you add milk or water and some instant yeast to the mixture, along with some plain mashed potatoes that do not include butter or cream, salt, an egg, and grated cheese. I kneaded this dough in a stand mixer, but you can also knead it by hand for 8 to 10 minutes.

After the first rise, work the thyme into the dough by hand. Spread the dough out onto a quarter sheet pan (9 inch by 13 inch), and let it rise a second time. Because of the cheese, I recommend lining the pan with parchment to prevent sticking. I had to use a large griddle spatula to separate the bread from the pan after baking (fortunately without any damage to the bread, but it was tense).


Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread dough before rising




Once you spread the dough out on the quarter sheet pan, cover it and let the dough rise until doubled.

Finally, you score the dough with a sharp knife to create a pavé pattern. This was the step I had the hardest time with. My scoring is a bit "rustic."


Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread in a quarter sheet pan





You will love the oven spring with this bread. Once you place the pan in the oven, the bread will spring up from the heat into a beautiful puffy loaf.

Feel free to serve it warm with dinner, cutting it into squares. After that, you can either slice it thinly for toast, or divide it in half through the middle for sandwiches.

The original recipe calls for mature goat cheese, which is a hard cheese. I was not able to find any, so I substituted smoked Gouda, which was delicious.


This Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread can be cut into squared for dinner rolls




This month, the Bread Baking Babes, hosted by Kelly of A Messy Kitchen, are making this bread from the book, World Breads, from Pain de Campagne to Paratha (affiliate link). Kelly's pavé pattern is fabulous. Be sure to check out her post.



Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread


While I used smoked Gouda and thyme, you can use your favorite hard cheese and herbs to make this bread your own.


Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread with smoked Gouda





Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread


Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread
Yield: 16 servings
Author:
This Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread is so soft and moist, and of course, cheesy!

Ingredients:

  • 500 grams (4 1/2 cups) bread flour
  • 50 grams (1/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, grated with a box grater
  • 7 grams (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
  • 100 grams (1 cup) plain mashed potatoes
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 150 grams (2/3 cup) grated smoked Gouda cheese
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions:

How to cook Cheesy Potato and Thyme Pavé Bread

  1. Add the flour to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the grated butter and toss it in the flour. 
  2. Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture, add the water, potatoes, salt, egg, and grated cheese and bring it together with your hand in the bowl. 
  3. Using the dough hook, knead the dough for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth. You can also knead the dough by hand for about 10 minutes. 
  4. Place the dough into an oiled bowl or dough rising bucket, cover, and let rise until doubled, about an hour. 
  5. Line a quarter sheet pan with parchment and drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil. 
  6. Remove the dough from the bowl, fold in the thyme, and knead it in as best as you can. 
  7. Place the dough into the oiled pan and flatten it out into a rectangle. Spread it out as best you can. It won't completely fill the pan, but will grow as the dough rises. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled. 
  8. In the meantime, heat the oven to 400 degrees F. 
  9. With a sharp knife, slash the top of the dough in a tick tack toe type pattern. Spray or brush the top of the loaf lightly with water and place it in the oven. 
  10. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. 
  11. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and let cool for about 10 minutes before serving. 
Calories
126.10
Fat (grams)
4.71
Sat. Fat (grams)
2.38
Carbs (grams)
16.12
Fiber (grams)
0.65
Net carbs
15.46
Sugar (grams)
0.27
Protein (grams)
4.54
Sodium (milligrams)
157.75
Cholesterol (grams)
19.40
bread, Gouda
Bread, cheese bread
European

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Created using The Recipes Generator



Would you like to comment?

  1. Wow, you couldn't ask for a more enticing crumb! It looks just like the photo in the book, and such gorgeous color too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Crumb color and scoring, I say you ticked all the boxes! My scoring dragged and smeared, your seems deep and clean.
    I keep most of my butter in the freezer, grating is magical.
    Just gorgeous Karen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! I was frustrated with the scoring but the oven spring cured all.

      Delete
  3. Wow, that bread looks beautiful, Karen! The crumb is perfect!

    You are brilliant to use the grater for the butter. I wish I'd thought of that as I laboriously used one of the lethal weapons in the knife rack to cube our butter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Elizabeth. It always frustrates me when I try to use a knife!

      Delete
  4. For some reason my comment did not go, glad I came back here and realized it.... I adore that picture of the butter, so so beautiful!

    your breads are just spectacular, always!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the trick with freezing the butter and then grating it! Very cool! Your crust and crumb are lovely!

    ReplyDelete

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