Za'atar and Goat Cheese Pull-Apart Bread

It's been about two years since I posted here. I've been super busy with kids, work, home, and more kids, work and home. I've missed baking tremendously. I've also not baked because my crappy OTG has given up on me. It's a temperamental little fellow. Soon I'm going to be the proud owner of a new oven (not an OTG, an actual oven) and I can't wait.

Aparna, a dear friend, has started a new group and I jumped at the opportunity to become a part of it. We are the

We Knead to Bake group. This is so totally up my alley, that I forgot about my OTG-troubles, signed up for the group, kept my fingers crossed and just baked my first pull-apart bread. I just hoped it would turn out somewhat close to Aparna's Herb and Cheese Pull-Apart Bread!

Za'atar and Goat Cheese Pull-Apart Bread

For the dough:
1/2 cup Warm Milk
1 tsp Sugar
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast (I used Flieschmann's)
3 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Salt
25g Butter, softened
1 tsp Garlic Paste
3/4 cup Milk (and a little more to brush over the bread)


For the filling:
3/4 cup Za'atar
1 cup Goat's cheese, grated
1/2 cup Pine nuts, toasted
2 tbsp Crushed Red Pepper, or Chilli Flakes (optional)

Combine the warm milk, sugar and yeast together in a small bowl and let stand for 5 minutes to activate the yeast.

Meanwhile, combine the flour, salt, butter and garlic paste together, to form a dough. Add the yeast mixture, and the milk and knead until it becomes a smooth, silky dough (add a little bit of flour and knead until it stops being sticky!).

Shape the dough into a rough ball and place in a well-oiled bowl. Make sure the dough is lightly coated in oil as well. Cover with a cheese-cloth and keep in a warm area. Let rise for approximately an hour until dough becomes double its size.

Now, flatten and deflate the dough. Roll out into a square as large as possible. Spread the top of the dough with melted butter. Sprinkle the za'atar all over the butter, followed by the cheese, the nuts and the chilli flakes. Try to press the nuts in a little into the dough, so they don't fall out while baking.

Now cut the square into even strips. Lay one strip over the other (filling side up), until you have one long rectangle with even layers. Cut the rectangular stack vertically at even intervals until you have 6 or so square stacks.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Grease a loaf pan. Layer the square slices, cut side down into the loaf pan. Cover and let rise again for about an hour. Brush the top of the loaf with melted butter or milk.

Bake at 180 deg C for about 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven. Enjoy.

My bread deflated in the OTG because of uneven heating inside. It got quite brown and stuck to the bottom and we couldn't get it out. So we ate it from the loaf pan!!!

It tasted great, but looked terrible. I'm posting the photo here, but please don't judge the bread by its appearance! :) Do try it - it tastes delicious.

Thanks Aparna for including me in this group, for making me blog again after 2 years and most importantly, for getting me back to baking!