Cheese Stuffed Romanian Flat Bread チーズ入りのルーマニアのパン

Although we have an “excess” of baked goods due to my wife’s baking binge (all hardships should be so easy), she saw an interesting recipe for “Cheese stuffed Romanian flat bread” on Washington Post and declared that she had to make it. Of course, nothing goes without a hitch. The recipe calls for cooking the bread in a cast iron skillet. We know we have a small and large cast-iron skillet plus a cast iron grill. We used to keep them in the drawer under the stove but since that is prime space and we were not using them much, we got organized and moved them somewhere else. For the life of us, we could not remember where “somewhere else” was and after extensive looking could not find them. Like pancakes, my wife made the dough and formed it,  I cooked the bread using a small non-stick frying pan instead of cast iron pan.

The bread looks a bit overdone but it tasted ok with a toasty flavor, crispy crust and the soft cheesy center. Despite some difficulties, I have to say this was a sucess.

As usual, my wife deviated from the original recipe.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups (313 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (7 grams) quick-acting or instant dry yeast
1 pinch fine salt
6 tablespoons sunflower oil or other neutral oil
1/3 + 1/2 cup milk

Filling
6 oz. Ricotta cheese (this is what my wife used)
3 Tbs. Honey
1/8 Tsp. Cayenne pepper
1/4 Tsp. Salt
6 ounces farmers cheese or cottage cheese (if using cottage cheese hang shortly in a cheese cloth to drain excess liquid).

Optional:
Honey, for drizzling
Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling (optional)

Directions:
Put the flour, yeast, salt, sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. Add the oil to the milk and stir into the dry ingredients. If the mixture seems dry, add cool water, 1 teaspoon at a time; if it seems tacky, add a little more flour. Knead the dough until soft and smooth, about 10 minutes. (Cover the bowl with a clean, damp cloth and let the dough rise at room temperature for 1 hour, or until almost doubled in size. (Alternatively, cover and refrigerate the dough overnight.)

Lightly flour the work surface and turn the dough out onto it. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll the dough into a 10- to 12-inch-wide circle. Crumble or spread a sixth of the cheese, about 1 ounce (28 grams), in the center, leaving a 5-inch border around the cheese. Fold the sides of the round into the center in 7 to 8 folds, overlapping them slightly. The dough should cover the cheese. Then press the filled circle of dough with your hands or use a rolling pin to gently press the bread closed. Repeat with the remaining dough and cheese.

In a large, cast-iron skillet (or if you can’t find it any non-stick frying pan will do) over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil until it shimmers. Swirl the pan so the oil coats the bottom and place one of the dough rounds in the pan. Fry until golden brown on the bottom, 2 to 4 minutes, then flip and cook until golden brown on the other side, another 2 to 4 minutes, adjusting the heat as needed. Transfer to a plate and cook the remaining dough rounds, adding more oil as needed.

Serve warm, with honey and flaky salt, if desired.

 

In the picture it looks like these became a bit “high-done” but they were nicely crunchy and had a toasty flavor. The mildly sweet and creamy ricotta cheese filling was lovely with the finely textured bread. These opened all kinds of possibilities for potential variations…think ham and cheese.