Pane Bianco - a recipe from King Arthur Flour

What a stunning loaf of bread:

This is a picture on the KAF website:  https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/pane-bianco-recipe

We  have plenty of basil and tomatoes. .  . The next few days are predicted to be super-hot and super-humid, so if I want bread, I'd better do it today!  

Dough

• 3 cups (361g) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour*
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup (113g) lukewarm milk
• 1/3 cup (74g) lukewarm water
• 3 tablespoons (35g) olive oil

I measured wrong, and used 74g milk and 113g water. . .  I did put in the salt - that was probably a mistake. . . 

Filling

• 3/4 cup (85g) shredded Italian-blend cheese or the cheese, of your choice
• 1/2 cup (113g) oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes or your own oven-roasted tomatoes                              I                                      I used 2 fresh san marzano tomatoes
• 3 to 6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced. I used 4
• 1/3 cup (14g) chopped fresh basil, green or purple I used 1/2 cup chopped parsley and basil
•                                    I also added 1/3 cup chopped Kalamata olives Better leave out the salt if using olives!
• And because I was using fresh tomatoes, I added a splash of olive oil.

The dough came together beautifully in the Cuisinart stand mixer.  

I picked and chopped the parsley and basil, and sliced and chopped two San Marzano tomatoes (They are plum tomatoes and not very juicy.).  

I got to test out the garlic trick shown on the Netflix series with Nadiya.  Drop the cloves of raw garlic into a bowl of boiling water for one minute - the garlic won't be in long enough to cook, but the skin will slip off.  Sweet!  

Alas, it didn't work. . . 

Had to do the finicky hand peeling - I could have smashed them to make it easier, but. . .  I guess the easiest way to peel garlic is the same as always - smash them flat with the side of a knife, then peel and chop - That's fine if you are planning to chop or grate the cloves.  Won't work if you were hoping for whole cloves.

After the first rise, it was stretched out on a cookie sheet.  And the filling was spread on top.

Then it was rolled.

When rolling was complete, there are directions for cutting and shaping.

I did try to understand the directions, but they made no sense to me.

I'll need to find a video.

Here are the directions:

Using kitchen shears, start 1/2" from one end and cut the log lengthwise down the center about 1" deep, to within 1/2" of the other end.

Keeping the cut side up, form an "S" shape. Tuck both ends under the center of the "S" to form a "figure 8;" pinch the ends together to seal.

I could not make sense of that, so I just did what I could.

Alas, it bears no resemblance to the plan.

Here's the final result. 

It is delicious - a bit salty - so next time, if I add olives, I'll omit or reduce the salt in the dough.

We really liked it.  Very tender but very flavorful.  It's a keeper!

August 6, 2020

I contacted King Arthur by using the Ask a Question link on the recipe page, because I could not, for the life of me, figure out what they were telling me to do about the shaping.  They gave me a link to more pictures and it made more sense.  I tried again:

This is more like it!  It's still delicious.  
And it looks better, too!

I did omit the salt in the dough.  Next time, I'll use 1/2 teaspoon of salt rather than none.