Pain du Soleil

Eva from SweetSins is hosting BBD#6 created a few months ago by zorra whose first post for BBD can be found here. I am happy to include my Pain du Soleil into this event. Baking breads give me the most satisfaction of all my cooking experiences.

Sun-dried tomatoes give this sun-shaped bread a rosy hue while Parmesan cheese and freshly ground black pepper add some pizzazz to make this a perfect accompaniment for soups and stews. Using the dough cycle of a bread machine to save time in kneading, the ingredients are combined in the machines pan and in a few hours, you have a nice, smooth dough to make the smiling sun.

Although shaping the dough looks difficult, a bowl placed in the center of the round facilitates cutting the sunrays into even sections. The bowl in then removed and each section is twisted three times to make the rays.




















Pain du Soleil
Makes one 1 1/2 pound 14 inch round flatbread with 16 sunrays

3 cups bread flour-I used King Arthur Artisan Bread Flour
2 1/2 teaspoon bread machine yeast
1 cup water
1/4 cup fruity olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup minced sun dried tomatoes

Combine all ingredients in the bread machine pan except for the minced sun-dried tomatoes. Process on the dough cycle adding the minced sun-dried tomatoes after the first knead. When finished, remove the dough to a lightly floured board and punch down. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Roll the dough into a 14 inch round and transfer to parchment paper liberally dusted with cornmeal. Place a bowl about 4 1/2 inches in diameter in the center of the dough. Then cut the dough from the bowl outward into four sections, then eight sections and finally into sixteeths. Remove the bowl. You now have sixteen sections radiating from the center of the sun. Dust the top with flour, then twist each sunray three times.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Slide the sun bread still on the parchment onto a baking sheet and let rise until puffy, about 20 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes, or until brown. Cool. Best served the day it's made.

Recipe from "Rustic European Breads From Your Bread Machine" by Linda West Eckhardt and Diana Collingwood Butts.