One of the last few from the “in-the-queue-way-too-long” batch, here’s 17-22: Bread Loaves with Creamy Filling. I’ve been putting this recipe off for a while–I never seemed to have or remembered to buy cottage cheese to make it. Yes, in another 1980s-lowfat-health-craze-inspired moment, Simply Delicious chooses to sacrifice flavor for “health benefits”, this time by stuffing whole wheat bread with herb-flavored cottage cheese.
See? “Healthy” is right there in the description. Now, 30+ years later, we’ve determined that fats are probably better for you than we thought back then, and carbs/sugar are probably a lot worse for you. Remember, when they make things “low-fat”, they usually have to jack up the sugar to make it somewhat edible. Not really a great strategy for weight loss, as my parents’ yo-yo dieting throughout the 80s, 90s, and beyond can attest to.
Not too much to it–the only ingredient that might be a bit more challenging to come by would be the tarragon/chervil option. I’ve had a difficult time finding fresh tarragon or chervil in the supermarkets around me (and I live in Northern California, with year-round access to pretty much any kind of fresh produce you could imagine), but it is out there.
Ingredients. I had pulled out pesto (the big container on the left) that I had made to perhaps mix into a portion of the dough or filling, but never ended up using it. Went with parsley (easy to find) and tarragon (harder to find, and much more expensive) as my fresh herbs. When I’m not making bread from Simply Delicious, I’ve been practicing with some of the recipes from Flour Water Salt Yeast by Ken Forkish (which comes highly recommended via r/breadit), hence the fancy flour.
I’ve gone back to packets of yeast for now–the bulk buy stuff never seemed to rise as well as the individually packaged stuff, probably due to less-than-optimal storage conditions both at home and at the store.
I usually bust out the butter melter for such a task, but I’m feeling lazy, so the microwave will have to do.
Works just fine.
Temping the water for the yeast. We’ll call that one good. Enjoy the extreme closeup of my left hand.
Combining the two flours.
Here’s right before it gets messy.
After kneading. The whole wheat flour makes it seem drier than if it were just all-purpose flour. Simply Delicious even notes in their TIPS section that this may be the case–use caution when adding additional hydration–it can throw your whole ratio off.
Greased the bowl with some spray oil.
After rising. Compare this photo to the one above it from before it rose–there’s definitely a difference.
Chopping my herbs in my mini-processor. I have a BIG processor, but it’s such a beast to pull out and assemble (and CLEAN) that it’s nice to have a miniature one for small, easy jobs.
Blended the chopped herbs with the cottage cheese right in the mini-processor–why get more dishes dirty?
Rolled out the dough with my rolling pin–I upgraded from a standard rolling pin to one with these removable discs on the sides that serve as measurements. If you want it to be 1/4″ thick, adjust the discs accordingly. There’s also a ruler on the pin itself to help with the length and width of the dough as well–I LOVE well-designed tools.
Spreading the filling on the dough. I just can’t help feeling like it needs something more…substantial inside.
I had some ham in the fridge, so I went ahead and rolled that up in there too.
I left most of it as a loaf, but sliced up a few of them before baking to see what would happen.
Rolls on top, loaf (and a few more rolls) on bottom.
After baking. There were a few breaches where the filling leaked out (and burned), but otherwise most of it stayed intact.
Once I take them off the Silpat they’ll look much more appetizing.
Final shot. The loaf looks pretty similar to the Simply Delicious picture, but roll-ups are another option as well if you don’t want to make loaves. Notice that there’s no ham in the loaf itself–only in the roll-ups.
Grade: B+
