Spinach and anchovy bread

Every so often, a strange mood hits me and I want to try something different. That happened the other day. I spied a tin of anchovies on the counter. 

Now I suppose bread isn’t the first thing you think of when you see anchovies. Well, usually it’s not the first thing I think of either. But this day, I started thinking anchovies and cheese inside some bread. I threw in some spinach because I’m on a health kick. Here’s what I did.

2 cups flour

1 tsp. olive oil

1/4 tsp. sugar

1 tbs. instant yeast

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup slightly warm water

Baby spinach leaves

Parmesan cheese, sliced

Toscana cheese, sliced

1 tin of anchovies

Fresh ground black pepper

Ground Cayenne

Sea salt

Corn meal

Preparation

Mix the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, olive oil and water in a mixing bowl. Now, keep in mind that I never measure this stuff, so you might have to adjust it. You know, if it’s too wet, more flour or too dry, more water. You can figure that out right?

Knead the dough and then roll it out on a floured counter into a large oval. Over one half spread the spinach leaves. Leave the outer inch uncovered. Now layer the spinach with plenty of sliced cheese. Go ahead add a little more. That’s it. Now add the anchovies over the cheese. Distribute them evenly. Grind a bunch of black pepper over the pile and then sprinkle a spec of cayenne over it. 

Fold the dough over the filled half and roll up the edges. Place it on a baking sheet that has been heavily sprinkled with corn meal. Brush the top of the bread with lots of olive oil. 

Cut slits in the top of the bread to expose the filling. Preheat the oven to 400º and bake until the bread is golden brown. Brush it again with olive oil when it comes out.

Serving

The way I would serve this is as a bread to go along with a large steak, charred rare, sautéed spinach and steamed barley. I’d open a bottle of a good Italian red wine.