Parmesan Peppercorn Bread
This Parmesan Peppercorn Bread is simple enough for cooks of all levels to make, and the pairing of nutty parmesan cheese and sharp peppercorns is lovely! Slather it with butter or serve with a fresh Tomato Burrata Salad.
Parmesan Peppercorn Bread: no fancy machinery required. I specifically designed this recipe so you can make it by hand. Every Christmas my dad orders goodies from different food catalogs, and he always ordered Parmesan Pepper Bread and Chocolate Cherry Bread from a famous bakery in Ann Arbor, Michigan named Zingerman’s. If you want some of this Parmesan Peppercorn Bread shipped to you, you have to shell out $28. $28 for a loaf of bread?!?!? Ouch. It was time to try to make my own parmesan peppercorn bread, and it turned out BEAUTIFULLY. The parmigiano reggiano is so sharp and savory sweet, while the peppercorn has a slight heat to it.
Make the shaggy mass of dough:
Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for two hours.
Break up a block of parmesan cheese into chunks:
Knead the parmesan chunks into the bread, keeping your hands wet at all times so the dough doesn’t stick to you. Let it rise for an hour (this is the final rise).
Bake, and enjoy!
For more parmesan recipes, try Garlic Parmesan Wings, Crispy Parmesan Crusted Chicken, and Creamy Parmesan Chicken.
Parmesan Peppercorn Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups bread flour (15 oz by weight)
- 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1.5 cups warm water
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil if you want a crustier bread, leave the EVOO out, but I find it adds a nice flavor/aroma and I like what it does for the crust
- 1.5 tbsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 4 oz Parmesan cheese try to use authentic parmigiano reggiano
Instructions
- Stir the flour, yeast, salt, water, pepper, and olive oil together in a large bowl until well combined. It should look sort of shaggy smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for two hours.
- Flour your countertop with 1 tbsp flour, turn the dough out, and sprinkle the top with another tbsp of flour. Knead for 2 minutes by hand (after that it will start to get too sticky, and we don’t want to add too much flour to the dough, since it will change the identity of the bread). Place the dough back into the bowl, and let it rest for another hour, again covered with plastic.
- Break the Parmesan up into little pieces. Knead the parmesan chunks into the bread, keeping your hands wet at all times so the dough doesn’t stick to you (before we used flour to prevent sticking, and now we’re using water. You see? Keeping things in balance). Knead the dough enough to distribute the parmesan evenly, about 2 minutes. Let it rise for an hour (this is the final rise).
You can bake your bread one of two ways:
- Method 1: 20 minutes before baking, preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Stick a dutch oven in the oven to heat up (I just used a heavy bottomed stockpot since I don’t have a dutch oven). Once the oven reaches 450, place your dough into the pot, cover with a lid, and bake for 30 minutes. Take the lid off, and bake for 15 more minutes, until the bread reaches 200 degrees F on an instant read thermometer. Cool on a wire rack.
- Method 2: Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Put a sheet pan filled with boiling water on the bottom shelf of your oven, and spray the walls of your oven with water. Bake your bread on a sheet pan for 20-25 minutes, until the bread reaches 200 degrees F. Cool on a wire rack, and slather with salted whipped butter.
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
36 Comments on “Parmesan Peppercorn Bread”
The first batch tasted great but didn’t rise very much. It’s really difficult to knead because it’s SO sticky. The recipe says to use 2tbsp flour for the entire 2 minute kneading after the first rise but I need to apply that much every few movements to avoid losing half of the dough on the counter or my hands and even then it still sticks like crazy. Some tips for what to do if sticking is a big problem would be appreciated!
Just double-checking…1/2 tsp yeast? Because usually a year packet is 2 or 2 1/4 tsp yeast. If that’s accurate, just let me know!
Yes, I use the jars instead of the packets, and you don’t actually need 2.25tsp. You can add a full packet if you like, I think it’d turn out ok as well.
I have whole peppercorn, what method do you suggest to crack them. Or can I use a coffee grinder?
Perfect. Made this last night and all went within an hour! Making it again today. Perfect recipe. I used a third of the parmesan recommended as its very strong. And the flavour was bang on for me. Everything else i stuck to.
Thank you for this recipe
This was delicious, the only trouble I had was getting the bread out of the Dutch oven-perhaps I should have oiled the bottom??
Hi Lauralee, did you preheat the dutch oven? Usually that is enough to prevent it from sticking, but for extra insurance, you can put a round of parchment paper in the bottom next time. Then it definitely won’t stick. Happy baking!
We make this bread all the time. It’s a favorite of ours. I definitely use the stand mixer to kneed it – it’s less mess and much quicker. However, the total time on this bread is closer to 5 hours than 3 15. Plan accordingly.