Wood-Fired Garlic Cheese Bread With Herbs

Name: Wood-Fired Garlic Cheese Bread With Herbs
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 2 min
Total time: 12 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 ball of the 72-hour dough (about 177 g), out of the fridge 1.5 to 2 hours; Semolina, for the peel; The Garlic Butter:; 3 tbsp unsalted butter; 2 garlic cloves, minced; Pinch of fine sea salt; 1 tbsp chopped parsley; The Top:; ½ cup low-moisture mozzarella, shredded; ¼ cup smoked provolone, shredded or torn; 1 tsp fresh oregano leaves (or ½ tsp dried); 2 tbsp grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, to finish; Torn basil and more parsley, to finish; 1 cup fire-roasted pizza sauce, warmed, for dipping

One ball of the 72-hour dough stretched into an oval, brushed with garlic butter, covered in mozzarella and smoked provolone, and blistered in the wood oven in about two minutes. It comes out in strips for dipping in the warm fire-roasted sauce, and it is the first thing into the oven all night because it proves the deck is ready and gets food in front of people before the first pizza.

Total time

12 min

Serves

4

Difficulty

Medium

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Wood-Fired Garlic Cheese Bread With Herbs

As seen on Episode 286

The pantry

kitchen

Essentials · serves 4

1 ball of the 72-hour dough (about 177 g), out of the fridge 1.5 to 2 hours Semolina, for the peel The Garlic Butter: 3 tbsp unsalted butter 2 garlic cloves, minced Pinch of fine sea salt 1 tbsp chopped parsley The Top: ½ cup low-moisture mozzarella, shredded ¼ cup smoked provolone, shredded or torn 1 tsp fresh oregano leaves (or ½ tsp dried) 2 tbsp grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, to finish Torn basil and more parsley, to finish 1 cup fire-roasted pizza sauce, warmed, for dipping

·

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The preparation

8 steps, about 12 minutes start to finish.

01
1. GARLIC BUTTER, AHEAD: melt the butter in a small pot over low heat with the garlic and the salt. Give it about a minute, until the garlic is fragrant and the butter is foamy. Do not let it brown. Off the heat, stir in the parsley. Keep it warm at the edge of the oven or on the stove.
02
2. Warm the sauce in a small pot and set it by the oven mouth to stay hot.
03
3. STRETCH: dust the top of the ball with a little semolina. Press from the center out with your fingertips, leaving a half-inch rim, then pull it into an oval about 6 by 12 inches. It does not have to be pretty, it has to be even.
04
4. Lay it on a semolina-dusted peel and give the peel a shake. If the oval does not slide, lift an edge and throw more semolina under it.
05
5. Brush the garlic butter over the whole surface, rim included. Scatter the mozzarella, then the smoked provolone, then the oregano. No sauce on top: that is what keeps it light enough to launch.
06
6. LAUNCH AND BAKE: onto the deck at the landing zone, away from the fire, and bake 90 seconds to 2 minutes, rotating every 30 seconds with the turning peel. Out when the rim is blistered and the cheese is bubbling with a few brown spots.
07
7. Onto a board. Parmigiano over the top, then the basil and parsley. Rest 30 seconds so the cheese sets, then cut crosswise into 8 strips with the wheel.
08
8. Serve with the warm sauce in a bowl in the middle. Dip, do not pour.

lightbulb The chef's notes

“The smoked provolone is the point; plain provolone makes garlic bread, smoked provolone makes something that tastes like it came out of a wood oven even before it did. Because there is no sauce on it, this bakes faster than a pizza, so watch it from 60 seconds on and pull it a shade early if the oven is running hot; the cheese keeps cooking on the board. If the oven is not quite there at 7:12, this is the item that tells you: a pale bottom at two minutes means bank the fire and give the deck ten more minutes before the first pizza. Nobody in the room will mind eating this while they wait.”