Passionate Foodie: Cheese Layered Braided Flower Brioche

A very interesting recipe which i came across in one of the food shows... Its basically a pizza serve in a different way, in the form of a braided flower... Brioche is a french bread rich in butter.. This is the base of the recipe..

Making this dish from the scratch was an amazing experience.. I have never made pizza dough or bread at home before.. Kneading the dough and then seeing it rise double in size, gave me the confidence that my recipe was going in the right direction... And then when i saw how to braid the flower shape, i was skeptical if i would be able to make it right.. But as i proceeded with it,, it was even more fun and interesting to work with.. It gave me a very artistic feel.. Its a must try atleast once.. Here in the recipe i may not be able to explain the steps that goes in flower making really well, so im attaching a link also which will guide you with it...

I have used my own home made pizza sauce.. You can either make your own or even use a store bought.. For the filling if you donot have variety of cheese, you can still proceed with any cheese that is available to you

You can experiment with the fillings of your choice and liking.. I have mentioned the variations that you can make in this ...

Filling variation 1 - greek yoghurt/hung yoghurt as base and filling of shredded cheese, onions, red pepper flakes, mustard paste, salt and pepper

Filling variation 2 - pesto sauce as base and filling of mozarella cheese and tomatoes

Filling variation 3 - Nutella for a sweet version.. Warm it in microwave so that it is easier to spread on the layers..

For the brioche dough

2 cups all purpose flour / maida

1tbsp sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2tsp instant yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup luke warm water

For the filling

1 1/2 cup pizza sauce (click here to get the recipe)

1/2 cup gouda cheese

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 cup montery jack cheese

2tsp oregano

2tsp red chilli flakes

1tsp garlic powder (optional)

1tsp all purpose flour

Method: Mix all the ingredients of filling except pizza sauce and keep aside.. All purpose flour is added so that the cheese does not stick to each other and it is easy to handle the filling.. Keep aside..

For the dough - Add yeast and sugar in water and keep aside till it froths.. Mix butter and milk, heat if necessary to mix it well.. Cool.. Add salt in all purpose flour and mix well. Add in the yeast mixture and the milk mixture and knead well to form a soft dough.. Knead it well for 10mins and then place it in a bowl greased with oil.. Cover it with a muslin cloth and keep it in warm place for around an hour till it doubles in size.. Take out the dough onto the flour and knead again for a min.. Cut it into 4 equal parts and roll out into a 9 inch round chapati.. Make all four in similar way..

Preheat oven at 200c.. Now grease an oven proof plate... Place one chapati in plate and spread generous amount of pizza sauce evenly.. Top it with 1/3rd of cheese filling.. Place another rolled chapati on top and again spread pizza sauce and cheese.. Again place a rolled chapati and again top it with pizza sauce and cheese.. Finally cover it with the last rolled chapati.. This way you get 3 stuffed layers of pizza sauce and cheese filling between 4 chapatis.. Now put a small glass or cup in the centre and press it slightly to make a round mark.. From this mark till the end, first divide it into 4 parts.. Then again divide this into 8 parts and then in 16.. Remember to make the incisions only from the round mark till the outer end.. Donot cut it till centre.. Now that it is divided in 16 equal parts, take 2 parts and twist it in outward direction twice and then pinch the ends together.. Handle it with care as it is the most delicate part in the whole process.. This is one petal.. Make all 8 petals the same way.. Brush it lightly with milk and bake at 200c for 25-30mins till the top turns golden.. Remove from the oven and rub butter all over for the extra glaze.. Serve hot..