CHEESE-AND-MORTADELLA-STUDDED BREAD

Cheese-and-Mortadella-Studded Bread image

Provided by Ronnie Venturoli

Yield Makes 12 to 16 servings

Number Of Ingredients 13

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened slightly, plus additional for greasing pans
1 cup warm water (105-115°F)
1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
3 1/2 ounce Emmental cheese, cut into 1/4-inch dice (2/3 cup)
3 1/2 ounce Italian Fontina, cut into 1/4-inch dice (2/3 cup)
3 1/2 ounce sliced imported mortadella (preferably from Bologna), cut into 1/4-inch pieces (3/4 cup)
3 1/2 ounce sliced prosciutto cotto or baked ham, cut into 1/4-inch pieces (3/4 cup)
2 (8-inch) round cake pans (about 2 inches deep) or 1 (12-inch) round cake pan

Steps:

Butter cake pans, then line bottoms with a round of parchment or wax paper, and butter paper.
Stir together water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast.)
Blend flour, parmesan, softened butter, salt, eggs, and yeast mixture in a food processor until combined well.
Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in remaining ingredients with a wooden spoon until evenly distributed. Divide dough between pans, spreading evenly, then enclose each pan in a large (1-gallon) heavy-duty sealable plastic bag and seal bags. Let stand at warm room temperature until dough has risen to about 1/2 inch from rim, about 1 1/2 hours.
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
Remove pans from bags, then bake bread until tops are golden and bread begins to pull away from side of pans, 30 to 45 minutes.
Transfer tortas in pans to racks to cool to warm, 1 to 2 hours. Run a thin knife around edge of each pan and invert rack over pan, then invert bread onto rack. Remove paper and use same method to invert bread onto a platter. Cut into wedges.