This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe was a quick bread which, Dorie promised, would take no more than 10 minutes to whip up. As it turns out she was right. This bread came together lightning fast, all the more so since I used shredded cheese.
OK, so this was an expensive bag of cheese. But it was worth it to have a Gruyère and Emmentaler blend for this and other recipes. And I might just make some fondue out of it, too.
As the name implies, this is a savory bread studded with cheese and fresh herbs. The recipe calls for Gruyère and snipped chives, but you could make it with nearly any combination of cheese and herbs, or even some fruit or meat, if you were so inclined. Once you have the basic recipe down, the possibilities are endless.
To make the bread, I mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another and folded them together. I stirred in the cheese (shredded and cubed) and chives, then scraped the batter into a pan.
I baked the loaf in a 350°F oven for 35 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center came out clean.
I cooled the loaf for about 20 minutes before slicing. It was still warm, and the cheese in the center was melty, gooey, and delicious.
Even though the chives appear fairly sparse, their flavor dominated this bread. It was savory and quite tasty, but I wish the flavor of the cheese had been a bit more prominent. I will probably use the same cheeses next time, but might opt for a more mildly flavored herb.
