A cured meats bread for a friday night easy dinner

Guess what? Short post alert!! Wow, that must be a first, don't you think? But just as I'm writing this one I'm telling my boy to hurry up and get dressed so we can go to the park before the heat starts sweltering, and also because I want to still take advantage of the morning so I can write. I love writing in the morning, when the light in my living room isn't yet too harsh or bright and there's a sort of moodyness to it which I find rather inspiring - especially when your current WIP features a lot of fog and mist!

I've been trying to kick one nasty writing habit, which is to NOT have a notebook around so I can jott down ideas as they pop into my head. Lately I've been hit by a few breakthroughs for my new novel and as they tend to happen when I'm showering/working out/doing the dishes/cooking dinner but NEVER at my desk, they tend to get lost in the aether. Just about fifteen minutes ago I had a huge idea for something that had been doing my head in with this story, and now, because I failed to note it down, I can't remember it! This is so annoying!

I have also NOT been in the mood for cooking, especially those rather elaborate things I sometimes tend to go for - and when I'm faced with the dishes they entail I always ask myself why the self loathing, why the self hatred that pushes me into cooking something that needs a dozen pots and a hundred pans which I will later have to wash. No cooking like that right now, just plain, simple, quick fare. Like tonight, I'm doing a pasta vonghole, because it's speedy, it's easy, and frankly it's darn good. Like bread. Especially because I'm never the one doing the bread, it falls on hubby to do them.

I love bread. I could live on bread alone, all types of bread, especially the ones who get loaded with tons of yummy stuff inside. Lately we've been on a Man Tou craze, ever since hubby found this perfect recipe, so there's been a chinese sort of feast most Saturdays around the house. But I'm still very prone to the ole' cured meat and cheese stuffed breads I think my husband excells in, so this is one of those, which I harpied him around untill the man had to give in and bake it for me. It's an easy one, relying much on the use of good cured meats and cheese, with fresh herbs to bring everything around. One of my all time faves!

Here's how you can get this one:

• 350 gr flour
• 7 gr fresh yeast
• 200 ml lukewarm water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1,5 tbsp olive oil
• 1 bunch of cilantro, fine chopped
• 1 handful of grated parmiggiano
• five to eight slices of cured meat of your choice - chorizo, prosciutto, ham, bacon, pork hock

Start by pouring water into a bowl along with the olive oil. Mix the salt into the flour, crumble the yeast and add it to the mix. Pour into the bowl and using the hook implement on your mixer, knead for 5 to 10 minutes, until it's smooth. cover with a cloth and allow the dough to rise for at least one hour. I prefer to let it go for two and a half, three hours. Once that time has elapsed, trunon your oven at 180º, line a bread tin with baking parchment and reserve. On a floured surface stretch out your dough and knead it slightly. Divide in two batches. the first one, place on the bottom of your bread tin. Cover with the meats, roughly cut, the finely chopped cilantro and the cheese. Place the second bacth of bread dough over this and with a knife, score some cuts along the lenght of it. Bake in the oven for about forty minutes, with the fan on - if you don't have a ventilated oven, place a tray with water at the bottom so the steam makes your bread rise. Let it cool over a rack and serve as entrée.