Peruvian cilantro bread tasty, risen or not

As I wrote last week, baking is my favorite cold-weather activity. (OK, baking is a favorite anytime activity.)

So far this year I’ve tried at least one new baking recipe a week. Some with success (see last week’s Loaded Garlic Knots), and some resulted in failure (a new cornbread recipe that produced the crummiest, crumbliest cornbread I’ve ever eaten).

In between was this bread: Pan de Cilantro y Cebolla Morada, or Cilantro and Red Onion Bread. Cilantro haters, it’s OK. You can stop reading now. I understand.

The recipe is from Lima the Cookbook: Peruvian Home Cooking by Virgilio Martinez.

I made the recipe exactly as written except for one tiny substitution. The recipe called for 2 ¼ teaspoons fresh yeast. Well, I didn’t have any fresh yeast so I used a heaping teaspoon active dry yeast. (A general rule is to use half the quantity called for in the recipe when swapping dry yeast for fresh.)

I knew going in that something was off. Many common yeast breads for home baking use a simple 3:1 ratio of 3 parts flour to 1 part liquid. This recipe called for 4 parts flour to 3 (!) parts liquid. The instructions describe the dough as “very sticky,” so I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. Mostly out of curiosity, but also because I had a large handful of cilantro that would otherwise end up in the trash and this recipe was a way to put it to (experimental) use.

But after the 45-minute rise the dough was still “very sticky.” So sticky that there was no way I could knead the dough as instructed.

But I persisted. Instead I scraped the dough into a loaf pan and baked it as directed.

Instead of a nice domed loaf of bread like the photo in the cookbook, my loaf was sunken in the center. But smelled divine.

And the resulting loaf was delicious — the cilantro, onion and black pepper in the dough gave the loaf a complex savory flavor that was complemented by a slight sweetness — even if it fell a little flat. And that flavor is why I’m sharing the recipe.

I made the bread again last week — increasing the flour enough to knead it, shaping it into a rustic round loaf and letting it rise a second time before baking. Success!

I’m including the recipe as it was written in the cookbook with my changes included as an OR option.

Pan de Cilantro y Cebolla Morada Cilantro and Red Onion Bread

½ cup low-fat milk (I used 2

percent)

1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar,

plus more for sprinkling 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more

for sprinkling

1 tablespoon butter, plus extra for

greasing

½ cup lukewarm water

2 ¼ teaspoons fresh yeast OR 1 heaping teaspoon active dry yeast

1 tablespoon chopped red onion Handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped PLUS a little more for garnish

1 1/3 OR 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting Cracked black pepper, for

sprinkling

Scald the milk in a small saucepan stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and the butter. Stir until sugar dissolves and butter melts.

In a separate bowl, combine the warm water and yeast. Set aside until mixture begins to froth. (If mixture does not froth after 5 to 10 minutes, the yeast is dead; start over with new yeast.) Add the onion and cilantro to the yeast mixture and mix well.

In a large bowl, combine the flour and both liquids, mixing to form a very sticky dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-4 ¾-inch loaf pan OR line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

With floured hands, knead dough (if you can) well and transfer to the prepared pan. (If desired, let rise again for about 45 minutes.) Sprinkle top with sugar, salt and cracked black pepper. Bake 1 hour.

Turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Garnish with extra cilantro.

Makes 1 loaf. Recipe adapted from Lima the Cookbook: Peruvian Home Cooking by Virgilio Martinez