Procedure

• The shape I prefer for stuffed bread is the ring shape, like the crown already on the blog and the recipe today. Other times I fold it into a half-moon, and other times I leave it as a salami, meaning in a long version, just rolled up. This latter case of which I don’t have photos to show you but which is easily imaginable, and which I have prepared less frequently because usually, due to the length of the salami, it requires the use of the large oven (which I use little because I prefer using the toaster oven, the Sfornatutto Delonghi I have mentioned in other recipes, for example in the bread with autolysis). In toaster ovens, the round or folded shape is essential for space reasons, but the baking comes out just as well as in any other electric oven.

  Every time I make the dough, I change something, so I thought I would not focus on a single recipe but list some basic doughs below, all suitable for the recipe and excellent with the filling. And all possibly modifiable by replacing half of the flour (the type 0 or type 1 which I use more frequently) with whole wheat flour.

  Simple dough with licoli

  Bread dough (or for pizza and focaccias) with brewer’s yeast

  Dough with aromatic herbs (with brewer’s yeast)

  Dough for focaccia (with licoli)

  This last dough for focaccia (it’s the recipe for asparagus focaccia) is included because it is very detailed in the description of the leavening times, so it can be useful for those not too familiar with leavening times with sourdough.

  Having said that, proceed as follows:

  1. when the dough has leavened, gently stretch it with your hands until you get a rectangle, just like for a pan pizza or a focaccia

  2. cover the rectangle of dough with the filling.

• For the filling, I often use peppers because my daughter likes them a lot and because they are very scenic when slicing the bread. The choice of the second filling is sometimes more complex for me because my son eats very few vegetables (and all disliked by Flavia!). But if you don’t have this “disabling” problem, you can indulge using all your favorite vegetables.

  Some advice:

  – for peppers, I recommend cooking them in the microwave leaving them “al dente” (just cook them already cut into strips for 7-8 minutes),

  – for spinach, or other cooked greens like chard and chicory, after cooking it’s useful to sauté them in a pan (perhaps with garlic and chili pepper to flavor them) to dry them from excess moisture which can compromise the proper baking of the bread inside,

  – when choosing cheese, it’s useful to opt for aged or semi-aged cheese; if you want to use mozzarella it’s good to let it drain first, or use it sparingly to avoid releasing too much liquid during baking

  – using cheese in the filling is optional. If you cannot use it for health reasons – because you are intolerant or have to limit salt (I remind you that unfortunately, cheeses contain a lot) – you can replace it with potatoes or, better yet, with a different protein source like eggs.

  Here’s how the interior of the bread with double filling (the one you saw in the two photos in the intro) looks before rolling:

  

• And here is the real filling 😉 of the bread with peppers I was talking about at the beginning, which was my first bread with double filling and the first bread with peppers, the progenitor of many subsequent stuffed breads.

  With these simple three photos, here is the sequence of filling and rolling:

  

• After obtaining the salami (which can be baked long or folded into a half-moon), if you want to get the ring shape just join the two ends.

  And pinch the dough to close it well along the entire edge.

  

• Place the bread ring, or crown, on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

  Bake at 356°F (but adjust according to your oven, I remind you that I usually bake in a small toaster oven) for 30-40 minutes, the time depending on the thickness of the bread and/or the filling used.

  

• After baking, let the bread cool on a wire rack before slicing.

  Here’s the version with peppers and spinach:

• I’ll also show you the interior of the version with peppers and olives:

  
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