I initially saw this on Paul Hollywoods T.V. Programme 'Bread' and it immediately sparked my interest...
I love a challenge even when it poses what would appear to be impossible technical issues. Most would say I'm ambitious, I would say I'm bloody stupid!
So I set about making this couronne despite the fact that Mr Hollywood has stated both in his T.V. programme and the accompanying book (yes I had to have it) that this recipe is for the advanced baker.
I have only had successful loaves of bread in the last month or so having finally mastered the art so would hardly call myself an advanced baker but sod it here I go!
I cant keep calling Mr Hollywood by that name it takes too long to type.
(May I call you Paul? Yes? Cool!)
O.K. so I opened the book at the relevant page which I have found is always a good place to start...
I ran down the list of ingredients and made sure that I had everything I needed having bought supplies the previous day. I opened the fridge to discover that my darling husband had eaten more than half of one of the packs of parma ham 'because I wanted ham' (you can imagine the language that spewed forth from my mouth dear reader, I confess it was not pretty or lady like and I may have promised physical damage to his person.)
So i collected together the remaining parma ham, the mozarella, strong white bread flour and other ingredients and set to work.
The recipe for the brioche base of this bread is actually quite simple to make and I quickly got to the stage of the first rise, I popped it into a lightly oiled tupperware tub and got on with the other recipes I'm going to be featuring shortly. An hour later I faced what can only be described as a baptism of fire.
I should have taken photo's at each stage but to be honest I didn't want to get dough on my camera!
I popped the risen bread dough onto a lightly floured work surface (what is lightly floured anyway? whenever I 'lightly flour' something everything sticks to it and I end up getting both annoyed and extremely messy!) rolled it out into something resembling a rectangle and (get me I'm flash) tacked the side nearest me to the work surface (this is basically squishing the edge of the dough into the worktop so that it doesnt wiggle around like a loony while you are trying to work with it).
I laid what was left of the parma ham onto the dough, tore up the mozarella (feeling all mama mia about myself and tossing it at the dough with what I thought was flare but what was actually me looking a total wally) I then stepped outside...
No I wasnt running away from it, I was on the hunt for some basil that wasnt dead or dying because it turns out that my green fingers arent actually green they are septic. Herb hunt over, I scattered the paltry few leaves I had managed to find that didnt look too pitiful over the dough, grated on some parmesan and looked at it with something akin to dread...This is it...The bit i saw on the T.V. and thought to myself 'I can do that...' It doesn't look so easy now...
Deep breath!
I rolled the dough towards myself enclosing the ham, cheese and basil within...
I gently rolled the 'sausage' stretching it slightly as I went to achieve the correct length...
Cut the 'sausage' lengthways down the middle AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH why am I so tense?????
Turned the half 'sausages' upwards so that the filling was facing the ceiling...
Grasped each end in my hands firmly and...
WAIT! This is NOT going to work!!!
(To myself) Get a grip woman its only bread dough, its not going to bite you!
So in the end instead of doing the ultra flash ultra cool Paul Hollywood flick of the wrist and spin the dough through the air to achieve the twist, what I actually did was gently (ever so gently, pathetically gently in fact) hold the ends together at one end and turn it as quickly as I could while praying that the filling stays in place, and then twist at the opposite end in the opposite direction...
I did it! well it looks sort of like Paul's (he did say I can call him that, see above) couronne and thats good enough for me. Now I have to get it on the baking sheet to prove and I panic...
How the hell am I going to move that without it falling to bits?
I know...(rummage in the cupboards) I have a steel thingy I use for moving sponge cakes, no idea what its called but it looks kind of like a wonky guillotine blade. I slide the wonky guillotine under the bread and lift it up while sliding the baking tray underneath (this is no mean feat people, I should have had a standing ovation for this but alas I got none)
Set aside to prove for approx 1 hour...
Bake at 200 degree's (oh bugger whats 200 degrees in gas mark again?... gets out android phone and looks up gas mark temp conversions... wait one site says gas mark 7, another says gas mark 6....Check my Delia Smith book for the conversion table in the front (thank you mum!!!!).....Grrrrr Delia says 7, O.K. lets go with that.
(This temperature debate was going on about half an hour previously to my putting the bread in the oven because as we all know Preheat Preheat Preheat!!)
Popped the bread in the oven and forced myself to walk away...
The resulting loaf looks like this...
Please note: DO NOT try to take this off the baking sheet before it has cooled for a while or you will be convinced you have a dreaded 'soggy bottom' when in fact its the cheese making an escape. I'd suggest waiting for around 15 mins before you move it to the cooling rack.
What a clever girl I am!
HaHa!
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