Amanda from Madison, WI (2017 Week 3: Bread)

Baker

Amanda

Location

Madison, WI

Baking Challenge

Savory Plaited Centerpiece

Give your bread a name and tell us about your recipe.

Prosciutto & Pesto Plait: I have not done a lot of bread work, but I took a lot of pointers from Paul Hollywood with this recipe! Both loaves have a basil pesto spread rolled into them, one of the loaves has the addition of prosciutto layered in as well. I slit the strands of the plait and twisted them to expose the pesto inside, like a couronne, before braiding them together.

Would you describe yourself as a rogue baker, or do you strictly adhere to the recipe?

I like to pretend that I’m a "strictly adhere to a recipe" type person when it comes to baking because I know to a certain extent that baking is chemistry and when you throw that chemistry off things can go sour…but I always manage to convince myself that putting a twist on it will not cause failure. Sometimes things work out in my favor, often times they really do not. For this recipe I went rogue by using Paul Hollywood’s advice of using cold liquids instead of following the instructions on the page and using warm liquids.

Tell us about how you added a Wisconsin twist to your bread creation.

Wisconsinites are inherently neighborly, so I used prosciutto from our Iowan neighbors. Plus locally grown basil for the pesto spread.

How did you do?

Absolutely lovely.