Cabbage Leaf Bread
Nov 01, 2006 | From the kitchen of Rose
tried the Madeira inspired bread wrapped in cabbage leaves posted on the blog. i decided to use the pugliese from my book.
the cabbage leaves started to burn after about 20 minutes so at that point i removed them. they had already made their lovely imprint on the crust which turned a beautiful golden brown.
the bread was 2 1/2 inches high rather than the usual 3 inches and had smaller holes due to the absence of steam ( i decided to rely entirely on the moisture of the cabbage leaves). but it was worth the change in texture for the lovely flavor and here's what i did with the bread:
i cut the middle section into 4 slices and froze them. i made a pocket in each end and stuffed it with ham and swiss cheese and grilled it in my cuisinarts "griddler"panini maker. WHAT A DINNER!!! the crust was thin and crisp, the crumb spongy and flavorful. have i ever had a better sandwich!!!
the basic technique with the cabbage leaves is to use the outer leaves and place them in the oven to soften and become flexible for 3-4 minutes. then use one or two large leaves on which to set the shaped risen bread dough and another one or two on top--be sure to spray the leaves with cooking spray to keep them from sticking to the bread.
check the baking bread after 20 minutes and if the cabbage leaves are getting very dark remove them and continue baking the bread until done.
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Rose Levy Beranbaum in reply to comment from Chava Cohen
07/24/2011 07:38 PM
chava, surely you don't think that there is only one way of being jewish and that is being glott kosher! i was brought up by a grandmother whose father was a rabbi. she was orthodox. for a while i was too. but that was a long time ago. there are so many ways of being observant. some people are kosher only in their homes. others eat traif but not pork. it's really a personal choice but one of the wonderful things about being jewish is that you don't get excommunicated for making the 'wrong' one!
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Chava Cohen
07/24/2011 07:27 PM
Hi Rose. I enjoy your blog, recipes and comments so much. However I am puzzled as you do not hide the fact you are Jewish but make and eat non-kosher food such as the above ham and Swiss cheese. How do you reconcile this?
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STEPHEN
11/02/2009 07:04 PM
CAN YOU SEND ME THE RECIPE? I DIDN'T GET YOUR NAME
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Veronica
11/03/2006 03:40 AM
A+ for the bread, I'm glad you mad sense of my instructions. Couldn't have turned out better than if I were personally showing you. Looks fabulous. I had to go out in my garden and harvest some leaves so I could make the bread, my mouth was watering.
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Rose
11/02/2006 01:13 PM
the pugliesi i referred to above is on page 360 of the bread bible and, by the way, also on the cover!
glad you had such success with the ciabatta! do be sure to check the errata section for any corrections to the recipes. it's on the left hand side of the blog.
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Pamela Pawluk
11/02/2006 12:56 PM
new to this page and would love the recipe- exactly where do I find it? I could not find it in the bread bible - also Google'd it please help - thanks
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Rose
11/01/2006 03:26 PM
i thought it looked fossilized too! and now what to do with the huge head of cabbage which my husband doesn't like. wedges for lunch steamed, topped with a little melting butter and crème frâiche, salt, freshly ground black pepper. yes!!!
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Zach Townsend
11/01/2006 03:17 PM
I'm a huge fan of cabbage. I love it "southern" style, in soups, etc. I also love to eat it raw. I used to cut chunks from heads of cabbage to snack on, so I love the concept of this bread. It looks like the bread is fossilized.
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Rose
11/01/2006 03:13 PM
more on the bottom than the top. and it smells great!
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Zach Townsend
11/01/2006 03:01 PM
The worst thing I can do to myself is go to this blog when I'm hungry because it's torture; everything always looks incredible. Then again, maybe it's the best thing I can do because it inspires me to try everything....
Does the cabbage impart some of its flavor on the bread?
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Salt of the Earth
Always Time for Bread