45 mins (15 minutes prep, plus proving, 30 minutes cook)
Not Too Tricky
makes 36
About the recipe
Push the boat out with this easy tear ’n’ share bread with oozy Camembert for dunking. A big show-off party bread that’s as easy as it is impressive – just the thing if you’re having friends and family over for Christmas nibbles.
Ingredients
800g strong bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1 x 7g sachet of dried yeast
3 x 250g round Camembert cheeses
½ a bunch of fresh rosemary (15g)
3 cloves of garlic
Method
- Put the flour, yeast and 1 teaspoon of sea salt into the bowl of a food processor. Gradually pour in 500ml of tepid water and pulse for a few minutes until you have a ball of dough. Leave the lid on and prove in a warm place for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper and dust with flour. Lightly draw the outline of a Christmas tree in the flour with your finger. Remove the box base from one Camembert and place it in the centre of the tray.
- Divide the dough into three pieces, then each of those into 12, giving you 36 in total. One-by-one roll each piece into a ball and place on the tray, building out from the Camembert box to create your tree shape. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to prove for another hour.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Cut the rind off the top of each Camembert leaving a 1cm rim (reserving the boxes for baking). Pick the tips off three rosemary sprigs and poke into the soft cheeses, then peel and finely slice the garlic, drizzle with olive oil and poke those in too. Sprinkle each cheese with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then pop one in its box in the centre of the tree, and another on a separate tray. Reserve the third cheese for later.
- Strip the remaining rosemary leaves and dot between the dough balls. Sprinkle with a good pinch of salt from a height, and drizzle with olive oil. Place the bread tree in the oven with the second cheese on the shelf below and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the Camemberts are gooey and the bread is risen and golden. As soon as you serve the first two cheeses, bake the third one in its box for about 20 minutes, then swap with the eaten ones. Delicious.
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