Bread and cheese with a Kiwi twist
Distinctively New Zealand ingredients are at play in this simple but tasty meal.
Potato & karengo bread with extra mature gouda & salad
❚ Serves 4 ❚ Preparation 20 minutes plus rising time ❚ Cooking 40 minutes This simple potato bread with karengo seaweed is adapted from April Bloomfield’s version in A Girl and her Pig.
Here it’s paired with the top artisan cheese from the 2016 NZ Champions of Cheese Awards, Mercer’s Extra Mature Gouda, which has a sweet, tangy flavour that complements the slightly sweet, tart dressing and the spicy watercress.
For the potato and karengo bread: ❚ 450g Agria potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks ❚ 3 tablespoons karengo flakes (I used Pacific Harvest, available at specialty food stores or pacificharvest.co.nz) ❚ 300g (2 cups) plain flour ❚ 3 tablespoons wholemeal flour ❚ 11⁄2 teaspoons instant yeast powder ❚ 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil ❚ 2 teaspoons flaky sea salt Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain, reserving the cooking water. Allow the potatoes to cool until tepid then put in the bowl of a mixer and mash roughly with a paddle attachment.
Add the karengo to 1⁄4 cup of the reserved potato water to soften it. Change the mixer attachment to a dough hook and add the flours, yeast, oil and the karengo with potato water.
Beat on low speed for 10 minutes, adding a tablespoon or 2 extra of the reserved potato water if necessary. The dough should be a little wet.
On a clean floured bench, knead the dough by hand for a few minutes until smooth. Put in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to double in size (around 40 minutes depending on temperature).
Remove from the bowl and knead on a lightly floured bench for 1 minute. Put onto a floured baking paper-lined tray. Allow to double in size again – around 30 minutes.
Put a pizza stone or oven tray in the oven and heat to 200 degrees Celsius. Transfer the bread on the baking paper to the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a rack to cool.
For the salad and to serve: ❚ 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard ❚ 1 teaspoon tart apple syrup ❚ 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil ❚ juice of 1⁄2 lemon ❚ 50g Mercer Extra Mature Gouda or other mature gouda ❚ 1 bunch watercress ❚ 1 apple, cored, sliced Combine the mustard, syrup, oil and lemon juice. Use the tip of your knife to flick out chunky shards of the cheese and set aside. Mix the watercress and apple with the dressing, add the cheese and serve with slices of the bread. – Ginny Grant, Cuisine