I got hooked onto this crispy cheesy crust after remaking my old cold proofed cheesy breakfast roll recipe. It’s just so crunchy and delicious that I had to make another recipe with it. The best part is that all it takes to achieve it is to sprinkle some cheese on the bread before baking. It may be the best effort/outcome ratio when it comes to uniquely crusty breads.
Although the crust is my favourite part, I wanted to make the bread equally as good. I chose to use my scalded burger bun recipe for it. It produces extremely soft bread with a nice and even open crumb. The crunchiness of the crust perfectly contrasts the softness of the crumb.
This recipe makes three large subs. You can divide the dough into four to make smaller ones.
Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.
Ingredients
For the scald –
60g (2.1oz) white bread flour
20g (0.7oz) butter
15g (0.5oz) barley malt syrup or any other sweet syrup or even sugar
6g (0.21oz) salt
190g (6.7oz) boiling water
For the main dough –
3g (0.1oz) instant dry yeast or 3.6g (0.13oz) active dry yeast or 9g (0.32oz) fresh yeast
1 egg yolk
240g (8.5oz) white bread flour
For topping –
1 egg white
Grated Emmental or Gouda cheese
To learn more about no-knead bread dough temperature control click here.
The flour I use has a protein content of 13%. If your flour is weaker, then you may need to lower the hydration.
If you are using active dry yeast, then you may need to let it sit in the water for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients or else it could take a lot longer to raise the dough.
If you are curious about why the dough contains butter, egg, and sugar, click the links to learn more about the effects those ingredients have on bread dough.
Method
- Make the scald. Combine the flour, butter, syrup, salt, and boiling water. Mix well. Cover and cool down. This can be done at room temperature or in the fridge or even in the freezer.
- Make the dough. Add the yeast and the egg yolk to the cooled down scald. Mix them in. Add the flour and mix to a dough.
- Cover and ferment for 45 minutes.
- Fold.
- Ferment for 45 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Shape into balls. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.
- Shape the subs and place them on a non-stick paper lined baking tray. Leave them round or flatten them to increase the surface area of the crust.
- Cover and proof for 1.5 hours.
- Gently glaze with the egg white and top with the grated cheese.
- Bake at 170C (340F) fan on or 190C (375F) fan off for 25 minutes.
Leave to cool down and then make yourself a massive sandwich!
Keep in mind that the conditions in each kitchen are different, so fermentation times may vary for you. It is up to the baker to control the bread and react accordingly.
Your oven may be different too, so your baking time may vary.
