This Chorizo Stuffed Bread was really good you guys. Like. Much better than I ever expected it to be, considering it is something I thought of while in the middle of a queso-induced food coma after scarfing tacos at Condado. It has layers of cilantro, parsley, and diced fresh jalapeno mixed right into the dough, and then is swirled with spicy chorizo sausage, queso fresco, and sharp cheddar cheese. It is just begging to be smothered with guacamole or dunked into a hearty soup.
I was required to yield to convention and use a thermometer to judge whether or not this enormous loaf was done, which seriously messed with my non-conformist tendencies. Boo.
But seriously, this would be amazing dipped in white chicken chili or any other hot and comforting substance. I’ve also eaten the bread alone as an entire meal several times since I baked it, to be honest. It has jalapenos in it, which is a vegetable, so its healthy. That’s what I’m going with, anyway.
Why can’t the yeast just work on MY schedule?
One of the reasons that I bake is because it helps me to work on my deeply-rooted IMPATIENCE. This character-flaw seems to be especially apparent when I am baking bread.
You cannot rush bread. It does what it wants, when it wants. Yeast is a living organism, and you can’t make it work any faster, no matter how many times you peak under your dish towel at it. This is both infuriating and somehow reassuring to me. It’s not under my control, but at least it’s consistent.
You also can’t really just intuit your way to being a good bread baker, you need a good cookbook (or recipe blog, hello.). One of my favorite cookbooks (by a long shot) is “How to Bake” by Paul Hollywood. If you are interested in a baking book that touches on every category, this is the one for you. I’ve baked almost everything in this book, and it really taught me how to make bread. His methods are tried and true, and every recipe is well-researched, creative, easy-to-follow, and delicious.
I also like staring into his icy blue eyes, and there’s lots of pictures.
Chorizo-Stuffed Bread: The elements.
My Man-Husband LOOOOOOVES bacon, and Paul’s Bacon and Cheddar Loaves make a frequent appearance in my kitchen. This recipe started as a spin on that loaf, so I borrowed his flour ratio and did four parts white flour and one part whole wheat flour. I’m pretty sure that also makes this super healthy….right?
After the first bulk rise of my basic dough, I mixed in some diced jalapenos, chopped cilantro, and chopped parsley. I am incredibly wimpy, so I removed the seeds and ribs from my jalapenos, but if you can handle the heat, you do you and leave those little fire pods in. I let it rise again, rolled it out, and layered in cooked chorizo sausage, cheddar cheese, and queso fresco. After trying and failing to get a decent picture of this, I rolled it up, shaped it into a coil, let it rise again, and dithered a little bit about the final touches. Should I put an egg wash on it? If I put cheese on top will it burn? I finally told myself to knock it off with the worrying, threw on cheese, jalapenos, and the egg wash, and chucked into the oven.
And she grew…
A lot.
Now, this is a good thing with bread. Generally a good oven spring indicates that you did something right. However, it meant that I couldn’t use my usual method of “take it out when you get too impatient” to judge when it was done. It was just too big, and I knew the color was no indication of how cooked the inside of the loaf would be. So, I did what I should really do every time I make bread and took out my good old meat thermometer. I stuck it in the middle of the thickest part, and took it out when it hit 190 degrees F.
Honestly, the meat thermometer is the best bread-baking tool in my repertoire, but for some reason I resist. Shouldn’t I just be able to FEEL when it’s done? Shouldn’t it just sing to me from across the room when it has reached its baking potential?
I highly recommend dunking this in beer cheese. Delicious recipe here.
For some reason, my loaves don’t do that, so I should probably just cowgirl up and use the damn thermometer.
Share links to your best soup recipes so I can cook up something comfy to go with the loaf! Enjoy.
Chorizo Stuffed Bread with cilantro, jalapenos, and cheese.
Course: BreadCuisine: American?Difficulty: Medium1
Loaf30
minutes40
minutes300
kcal2.5
HoursCilantro, parsley, and jalapeno dough rolled with spicy chorizo, queso fresco, and sharp cheddar! So easy and delicious.
Ingredients
400 g white bread flour
100 g whole wheat flour
15 g dry active yeast
1 T sugar
335 ml warm water
50 g unsalted butter, softened
15 g salt
2 jalapenos, seeded (if desired) and diced
handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 lb ground chorizo sausage, sauteed in a little oil, then patted dry with paper towel
1/2 cup queso fresco, crumbled
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, plus some to sprinkle on top
1 egg for egg wash
Directions
- In a large bowl, combine the yeast and sugar. Pour over the warm water and mix to combine. Leave to sit for five minutes.
- Add the flours, salt, and butter. Be careful not to dump the salt directly into the yeast mixture, put the flour in first. Mix until combined.
- When it starts to come together into a ball and is picking up all the flour from the side of the bowl, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead vigorously for 5-7 minutes or until it becomes smooth and elastic.
- Oil the mixing bowl, dump the dough back in, cover, and leave to rise for one hour or until doubled in size.
- When it is almost ready, prepare your vegetables. Pat dry firmly with a paper towel. You want to avoid adding moisture to your dough.
- Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Work in the chopped herbs and jalapeno, kneading it to make sure it is evenly dispersed. If bits fall out, just poke them back in. Put the dough back in the bowl and prove for another 45 minutes.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out your dough to a large rectangle. Layer in your chorizo and cheeses. Roll it up (from the long side) into a long sausage. Place a piece of baking parchment paper on a large tray. Coil your dough up on this, tucking the end under. Leave to prove for another 45 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Brush the loaf all over with your whisked egg using a pastry brush. Top with grated sharp cheddar cheese. You can also top with sliced jalapenos if you wish.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes. Use a thermomenter to judge whether it is done. You can take it out of the oven when it reaches between 185 and 190 degrees F. If it starts to get too brown, cover it with foil.
- Remove from the oven, cool completely, and enjoy!
This sounds incredible! You had me at chorizo 🤤