I wasn't going to make this bread. Casatiello is a brioche-like bread that is Italian in origin, and traditionally contains salami and cheese. I'm a life-long vegetarian, so the salami was definitely out, but for some reason I couldn't think of a substitute. Of course after I made the bread it dawned on me that sun-dried tomatoes would be fabulous, but since it didn't occur to me at the time - plus I didn't have any - I used toasted walnuts.
This was a delicious bread. The nuts and cheese complemented each other beautifully, and the bread itself was amazing. Light and rich at the same time, with a nice crunch from the nuts and wonderful little cheese pockets. I made a large loaf in a 9" pie pan - which made great sandwiches - and 6 rolls. I'm so glad I went ahead with this one, and I can't wait to make it again with sun-dried tomatoes.
I was working on the roundup and stopped by to get your blog url and to confirm that you hadn't made the casatiello, and, I'm so glad to see that you did go ahead and bake this bread. Cheese and walnuts are a match made in heaven, imo. It will also be great with sdt's - Di made it that way and said it tasted like pizza bread. I was pleasantly surprised by this bread, and enjoyed it much more than the brioche.
ReplyDeleteYour minis look great! Sun-dried tomatoes are definitely fabulous in this one. I actually liked them better than salami after trying both. My older daughter was the one who came up with the pizza-bread comment. Think I'll add oregano or basil next time as well.
ReplyDeleteThose look fantastic. The sun0-dried tomatoes are perfect in this.
ReplyDelete