Bitta - cheese bread with roasted peppers or alliums

[shain]

A bread of Cyprus/Greece/Turkish origin.

 

Dough: Make 1-4 days ahead

- 25g sugar

- 4g instant dried yeast

- 100g yogurt or buttermilk

- 140g water

- apx. 15g olive oil

- 9g salt

- 450g AP fluor

 

- Mix all but the flour.

- Mix in the flour.

- Knead, rest and repeat until a smooth strong dough forms.

- Cover and rest for a night and up to 4.

 

Fillings:

- 230g of a mixture of coarsely chopped salty cheeses - Feta, halloumi, kashkaval, sirene. You can also throw in mozzarella.

- 1-2 scallions, chopped (optional)

- A handful of chopped mint (optional)
- A handful of chopped herbs: oregano, thyme, marjoram, etc.

- Apx 8 garlic cloves, halved (optional)

- A small handful of olives, coarsely chopped (optional. I used Tassos, but most types will work)

- Filling 1:  100g roasted peppers, coarsely chopped (or instead, use double the next filling)

- Filling 2:  1 large onion and one leek, chopped and sauteed soft (or instead, use another 100g roasted peppers)

 

Also:

- a 22cm spring form pan

- 1/2 tsp of silan (or honey) mixed with 2 tsp water and a pinch of salt

- 25g toasted sesame

- 1-1.5 tsp nigella seeds (optional)

 

Method:

- Mix nigella and sesame.

- Grease the pan well and sprinkle some sesame and nigella.

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- Flatten (with your hands) the dough on a lightly dusted surface.

- Cover and let rest 15 minutes.

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- Roll the dough into a rectangle, dusting as needed.

- Scatter the peppers on one half. Scatter the onion and leek on the other.

- Scatter the cheeses and herbs evenly.

- Cut into 7 stripes, so that each contains either peppers or onion-leek (it's fine if some get mixed).

- Roll each stripe into a spiral.

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- Brush/dip a spiral in the silan (or honey) mixture. Scatter/dip in the sesame.

- Place in the pan, and repeat. You should have one in the middle, surrounded by the rest.

- Cover with remaining silan and sesame.

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- Bake in a preheated oven at 200dc, for ~40-50 minutes until browned.

- Release from the pan. Let cool for ~20 minutes (or more).

- To serve, bake again for ~10-15 minutes until hot and crisp (or more if needed, e.g. if it was cooled for longer).

 

Edited August 15, 2021 by shain (log)

[Maison Rustique]

That looks delicious! Thanks for posting this.