BAKED BRIE IN A CHALLAH BREAD BOWL

This beautiful looking thing you’re looking at was born after a discussion I had with my fiancé where I asked him to come up with some unique cheese pairings for me (because he use to do that for a living), for a Shavuot cheese platter post I was going to write. He suggested I should make something more original than a cheese board and somehow serve a good looking piece of triple cream Brie in a challah bowl. That was all I needed to hear, I really liked that suggestion and I knew exactly what I will do with it from there.

You can serve any type of dip in the middle of the challah bowl, from melted Brie, to labneh or even hummus.

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CHALLAH BOWL

Click the link down below that will take you to a detailed guide on how to make the challah bread:

CLICK HERE: CHALLAH RECIPE

CLICK HERE FOR A STEP BY STEP VIDEO TUTORIAL: CHALLAH TUTORIAL

I used a 15 cm (6 inch) diameter ceramic dish in the middle of the challah, so the dough that recipe made was enough to surround that size of a bowl. If you would want to size up a bit, consider doubling the original challah recipe!

Follow the first 8 steps from the original guide and then come back to this current recipe to find out how to roll and braid the challah bowl.

FOR THE TOPPINGS

• 1 wheel of Brie (200 grams or 7 oz)
• 200-300 grams of grapes (about a couple of good handfuls)
• 100-200 grams of mixed olives (a handful)
• olive oil
• Za’atar, rosemary, thyme (or any type of herb you have on hand really)
• the seeds of 1/2 of a pomegranate
• salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1

You should have already completed all the first 8 steps of in the challah guide, therefore, you should have about 3 to 6 strands (or however many strands you are braiding you challah in) hanging around somewhere on the working surface.

What you will want to do next, is get the ceramic bowl in which you are planning on serving your dip on and roughly measure the strands accordingly. By that I mean, roll them around the bowl and make sure the ends of the strands are overlaying (a lot more than you think) once surrounding the bowl. The braided loaf will have to fully surround our bowl, so make sure it is long enough – the strands will have to be thinner than what you would normally do for a regular challah loaf.

Step 2

Braid all the challah strands and pinch their ends together around the bowl you are using.

As you can see in my photos, it is alright if pinching the two ends of the loaf looks shaggy, we will just cover it with some toppings and now one will know! So do not worry about it too much!

Step 3

Cover the challah bowl system with a clean towel or some oiled Saran wrap and proof it, in a warm place, until doubled in size (for about 30-40 minutes at 22-26°C or 80°F).

Make sure you bake the challah about 5 minutes less than you normally would (if you are planning on baking the cheese afterwards), so with that in mind, continue following the rest of the steps from the original challah making guide (from 10 to 13):

CLICK HERE: CHALLAH RECIPE

CLICK HERE: CHALLAH TUTORIAL

Step 4

Now for the toppings, I decided to roast the grapes, something I have never done before, but you could definitely choose not to do so. There’s something about warm grapes and melted Brie that sounded really good to me!

To roast the grapes, simply place them on a baking tin, lined with parchment paper, and drizzle a couple of glugs of olive oil on them.

Roast the grapes at 220°C (430°F) for 20 minutes, flipping them half way through baking for an even roast. Keep an eye on them, ovens are different, so make sure to check on them after 10 minutes!

You don’t want to separate them from the stem, they will be easier to handle attached to the stem once it’s time to plate the dish!

Step 5

For the marinated olives, simply mix the olives in a bowl, add a pinch of salt, drizzle a couple of glugs of olive oil and sprinkle some Za’atar and other fresh herbs on top of them. Mix to coat the olives evenly and let them hang out until it is plating time!

Step 6

Trim the top off if you are using Brie or Camembert and pop the cheese in the challah bowl and put it in the oven for about 5-10 minutes at 220°C (430°F) until the cheese is warm and oozing. If the challah starts to brown or it is already too brown to spend more time in the oven, simply cover it with some aluminum foil.

You can also choose to let the cheese get to room temperature without baking it!

If you are using any other dip that doesn’t need more oven time, simply add it to the bowl in the middle of the challah.

Step 7

Time to plate! Simply spread the marinated olives and bunches of roasted grapes around the cheese bowl, on top of the challah, sprinkle the pomegranate seeds and garnish with some fresh herbs. Serve the dish by pulling apart the challah and dipping it into the melty cheese. If this won’t be the show stopper at your Shavuot gathering, I don’t know what will!