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Gruyere-Stuffed Crusty Loaves


A lava-flow of aromatic cheese melts down the sides of these chewy/crusty loaves. Step-by-step photos illustrating how to make this bread are available at Bakers' Banter, our King Arthur blog.

Ingredients

Starter

Dough

  • all of the starter
  • 1 cup + 2 tablespoons to 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water*
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon Pizza Dough Flavor (optional)
  • 3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
  • *Use the greater amount of water in winter, when conditions are dry; and the lesser amount in summer, when the weather is humid.

Filling

  • 2 1/2 cups grated Gruyère cheese, or the grated/shredded cheese of your choice (sharp cheddar, or a mixture of provolone and mozzarella are tasty)
  • 1 tablespoon garlic oil (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon pizza seasoning (optional)

Directions

1) To make the starter: Mix the 1 1/4 cups flour, salt, yeast, and 1/2 cup water in a medium-sized bowl. Mix till well combined; the starter will be very dry. Cover and let rest overnight at room temperature; it'll become bubbly.

2) To make the dough: Combine the risen starter with the water, salt, flour, and yeast. Knead—by hand, mixer, or bread machine set on the dough cycle—to make a smooth dough.

3) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, till it's nearly doubled in bulk.

4) Gently deflate the dough, and pat and stretch it into a 3/4"-thick rectangle, about 9" x 12". Spritz with water, and sprinkle with the grated cheese.

5) Starting with a long side, roll it into a log, pinching the seam to seal. Place the log, seam-side down, on a lightly floured or lightly oiled surface.

6) Cover it and let it rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, till it's puffy though not doubled in bulk. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425°F.

7) Gently cut the log into four crosswise slices, for mini-breads; or simply cut the dough in half, for two normal-sized loaves. Place them on one (for two loaves) or two (for four mini-loaves) lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets, cut side up. Spread them open a bit, if necessary, to more fully expose the cheese. Spritz with warm water, and immediately place them in the preheated oven.

8) Bake for 20 minutes (for the mini-loaves), or 35 minutes (for the full-sized loaves), or until the cheese is melted and the loaves are a very deep golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack.

Recipe summary

Hands-on time:
25 mins.
Baking time:
20 mins.
Total time:
45 mins.
Yield:
4 mini-loaves or 2 standard-size loaves.
*Overnight
Rate recipe
****+
Recipe comments (32) »

Tips from our bakers

  • This bread is a bit messy to make. The dough is soft; some of the cheese spills out. Don't worry about it; the final loaves will be beautiful in their own rustic kind of way
  • Feel free to use whatever cheese you like, so long as it melts well. Combinations are always nice (e.g., provolone and mozzarella).
  • Once you slice the log of dough and form loaves, get them into the oven as quickly as possible. Cutting the dough deflates it, but if you put the loaves into the oven quickly enough, they'll pick right up again.
  • When making yeast bread, let the dough rise to the point the recipe says it should, e.g., "Let the dough rise till it's doubled in bulk." Rising times are only a guide; there are so many variables in yeast baking (how you kneaded the dough; what kind of yeast you used) that it's impossible to say that bread dough will ALWAYS double in bulk in a specific amount of time.

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Reviews

*****

02/07/2010

Lea from Moreno Valley, California

I made them the first time and it was fantastic, my co-workers rave about it ; it looked professionally made they said. I will make again and will use pesto/basil sauce with the extra sharp cheese with diced ham yummmmm!!! This will be definitely in my baking repertoire!

*****

12/03/2009

Charice from Colorado Springs

I substituted 1 cup of whole wheat flour (with a little extra water) and the rise was still excellent. The starter worked as stated and bubbled nicely after about 12 hours rest. I used waxed paper with a spritz of cooking spray to shape the dough after reading about the difficulty some had--that worked well. Overall an excellent treat--I used shredded Mexican cheese, which was a trifle bland, but plan to try other cheeses (and perhaps more wheat flour) in future loaves.

*****

11/26/2009

from

I have made this dozens of times, shared it with friends and taught non-bakers to make it. It is a forgiving loaf that works every time and gets rave reviews.

*****

09/06/2009

Kathi Plomin from Hilton Head Island, SC

I did not use any of the optional flavourings. I wanted to try it in it's orignal style from the French Pastry School. This is a fantastic bread

*****

08/30/2009

Karen from Cincinnati, OH

This is one of my favorite "dinner roll" recipes. I always make extra dough to freeze, so I have it on hand - it makes beautiful mini loaves, just perfect for serving with soup (and many other dishes - trust me on this one ;). I've used many combinations of cheese - it's all delicious. I really love the combination of Gruyère and Havarti. Asiago and Gouda is delicious, too. (Although I love KAF's Pizza dough flavoring, I usually leave it out, so if you don't have any on hand, don't let it stop you from making this recipe. I often top the loaves with a sprinkling of gray sea salt before they go into the oven - mmmmm, salt and cheese.) As for the dough being hard to work with, I didn't find that to be the case at all. For folks new to bread-making, it just takes practice working with wet dough. The effort is always worth it, as it produces a superior crumb and crust in this type of bread.

*****

08/15/2009

Stephanie from Minneapolis

I am madly in love with this recipe! I've tried all sorts of variations (different cheeses, making ~10 dinner rolls, adding sliced ham along with the cheese, etc.) and it's always wonderful. This recipe always gets rave reviews from whomever I serve it to! Highly recommended.

*****

07/23/2009

Vince Altum at Cooking Ventures from Wichita, KS

I have made this recipe twice. Once with gruyere and once with Spanish Manchego. They were both well worth the effort. The dough is a little messy to work with but the wet dough helps to produce such a wonderfully crisp crust. I, personally, like it better with mini loaves. Make sure to use parchment paper or a Silpat because some of the cheese escapes. http://cookingventures.blogspot.com

*****

04/21/2009

from

Wow looked just like the picture and in bread macine it was easy and great tasting.

*****

02/24/2009

Meg from NYS

This came out incredible. The dough really is hard to work with so I would recommend putting the dough directly onto parchment paper as soon as you take it out of the bowl. I filled and rolled mine on the counter and it was almost impossible to move. The dough doubled quick and I cut it into 3 good sized loaves. I used cheddar cheese and it oozed out beautifully. The bread was denser than I thought it would be but honestly, there is nothing wrong with that. My boyfriend said I should sell these at the farmers market! I can't wait to try the other reviewers suggestion of apples and cinnamon.

*****

02/20/2009

Sky from Denver

Quarter cup more water solved the starter issue for me as well. Best bread recipe I have come across to date. I have already recommended it to others.