Cheese-and-Mortadella-Studded Bread
Torta salata
Great on its own or as part of a meal, this tender bread is wonderfully rich, particularly when served warm.
· If you have a proof setting on your oven, set it to 110°F and let dough rise in pans (but not in plastic bags) in oven 1 hour. Gently remove pans from oven and wrap in kitchen towels while heating oven to 350°F. Return pans, uncovered, to oven, and bake as in recipe above.
· Bread can be baked 1 day ahead and kept, covered with a kitchen towel, at room temperature. Reheat, wrapped in foil, in a 350°F oven until warmed through, 15 to 20 minutes.
Recipe information
Total Time
4 1D2 hr
Yield
Makes 12 to 16 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Butter cake pans, then line bottoms with a round of parchment or wax paper, and butter paper.
Step 2
Stir together water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast.)
Step 3
Blend flour, parmesan, softened butter, salt, eggs, and yeast mixture in a food processor until combined well.
Step 4
Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in remaining ingredients with a wooden spoon until evenly distributed. Divide dough between pans, spreading evenly, then enclose each pan in a large (1-gallon) heavy-duty sealable plastic bag and seal bags. Let stand at warm room temperature until dough has risen to about 1/2 inch from rim, about 1 1/2 hours.
Step 5
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
Step 6
Remove pans from bags, then bake bread until tops are golden and bread begins to pull away from side of pans, 30 to 45 minutes.
Step 7
Transfer tortas in pans to racks to cool to warm, 1 to 2 hours. Run a thin knife around edge of each pan and invert rack over pan, then invert bread onto rack. Remove paper and use same method to invert bread onto a platter. Cut into wedges.
