Blooming bread with bacon and cheese
The fun in eating blooming bread is to let everyone pull a piece to reveal the melted cheese inside. So make sure that you fill the bread evenly. After all, you don't want anyone saying that the piece he or she got has less cheese than the others.
Ingredients
- 150 grams belly bacon
- 1 loaf bread (about 200 to 250 grams) preferably with a light crust
- 150 grams cheese (aged cheddar is used here) cut into ¼-inch slices
- ¼ cup butter melted
- 1 tablespoon crumbled Parmesan to garnish
- thinly sliced scallions (or chopped parsley) to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 320F.
- Cut the bacon into thin strips and fry in an oil-free pan until browned and crisp. Drain on a stack of paper towels.
- Without going all the way through, cut the bread into thick slices then turn the bread at a 45-degree angle the bread and cut again to form squares.
- Stuff each cut with a slice of cheese.
- Drizzle melted butter into the crevices evenly.
- Fill the crevices with bacon.
- Place the stuffed bread in an oven-safe dish and cover loosely with foil.
- Bake at 320F for 10 minutes then remove the foil, turn up the heat to 350F and bake for another five minutes.
- Sprinkle crumbled Parmesan and scallion over the bread and serve immediately.