AI-generated image
Bola de Lamego
Bread stuffed with ham and sausage
Bola de Lamego: soft enriched bread baked around layers of cured ham, chouriço and chicken
Lamego, the cathedral town above the Douro, is famous for its cured hams, and its bola is a bread baked with them inside: a soft, slightly rich yeasted dough layered with presunto, chouriço, salpicão and often chicken or veal. It is taken on picnics, to the pilgrimage of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios in September, and sold by the slice in local cafés. This contains pork (presunto and chouriço). Chef's tip: let the bola cool for an hour before slicing; the juices from the meats settle into the crumb.
- Total time
- 85 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 10
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1 ⅛ lb strong white bread flourplus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup lukewarm milk
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 ⅜ oz buttersoft
For the filling
- 10 ½ oz boneless chicken thighs
- 5 ½ oz presunto or other dry-cured hamthinly sliced
- 5 ½ oz Portuguese chouriçothinly sliced
- 3 ½ oz salpicão or other smoked pork loin sausagethinly sliced, or more chouriço
- 1 egg yolkbeaten with 1 tbsp water
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (6)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Mix the 1 ⅛ lb strong white bread flour, ¼ oz fast-action dried yeast, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar in a bowl. Add the 2 eggs, ¾ cup lukewarm milk and ¼ cup olive oil and knead for 8 minutes, then knead in the 1 ⅜ oz butter for 2 minutes more, until smooth and elastic.
12 minStep 2: Cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour 15 minutes, until doubled.
75 minStep 3: Meanwhile, poach the 10 ½ oz boneless chicken thighs in simmering salted water for 15 minutes, until it reaches 165°F. Cool and shred.
15 minStep 4: Grease a 30 × 22 cm baking tin. Divide the dough into three. Roll one piece to fit the base and lay it in the tin.
5 minStep 5: Cover with half the 5 ½ oz presunto or other dry-cured ham, 5 ½ oz Portuguese chouriço, 3 ½ oz salpicão or other smoked pork loin sausage and chicken. Roll the second piece of dough, lay it on top, add the rest of the meats, then finish with the last piece of dough. Pinch the edges together to seal.
15 minStep 6: Cover and leave to rise for 30 minutes, until puffy. Heat the oven to 375°F.
30 minStep 7: Brush with the 1 egg yolk and bake for 35–45 minutes, until deep golden and hollow-sounding when tapped underneath. A common mistake is underbaking, which leaves the middle layers doughy; if the top browns too fast, cover with foil.
40 minStep 8: Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then on a rack, and slice into squares. It keeps for 2 days, wrapped, in the fridge.
15 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 400 kcal
- Protein
- 21 g
- Carbs
- 40 g
- Fat
- 17 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bola de Lamego take?
- About 85 minutes in total: 40 minutes to prepare and 45 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 10 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of strong white bread flour?
- Plain flour, same amount (the dough will be softer and rise a little less).
- What can I use instead of fast-action dried yeast?
- Fresh yeast, three times the weight.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
SalufPuffy flatbread
Saluf is the everyday bread of Yemenite Israelis, slapped onto a hot pan or taboon in Rosh HaAyin and Sha'arayim in Rehovot and eaten with marak temani, hilbe and zhug. It is soft and blistered, thicker than pita and with no pocket, made to tear and dunk. Home cooks often roll it too thin, which gives a cracker; it should be about 1 cm thick so it stays pillowy. Chef's tip: cook it under a lid on a very hot dry pan for the first minute, which traps steam and puffs it the way a taboon does.
Israeli
ChipaCheese bread rings
In Paraguay you hear 'chipa, chipa!' called by vendors with big baskets on buses and street corners, and every family bakes it for Holy Week, when chipa is the food of Good Friday. Cassava starch, a little cornmeal, butter, eggs and a lot of hard cheese are kneaded into a dough scented with aniseed, shaped into rings or small rolls and baked in a hot oven, traditionally a domed clay tatakua. It's chewy, crisp outside and best warm with cocido (toasted yerba tea). Chef's tip: the dough should feel soft and slightly greasy; add milk a spoon at a time, as too much makes the chipa spread flat.
Paraguayan
Akki rottiRice flour flatbread
Akki rotti is the breakfast of Bengaluru and the old Mysore country: rice flour mixed with grated vegetables, dill, coconut and green chilli, patted out thin by hand straight onto a cold pan, then cooked until speckled and crisp at the edges. Every home has its own mix; dill (sabbasige soppu) is the classic flavour, but cucumber, carrot or fenugreek all turn up. It is eaten hot off the pan with coconut chutney or a dab of ghee and spicy chutney powder, and it is naturally gluten-free. Chef's tip: work with two pans in turn, patting the next rotti onto a cooled pan while the first one cooks; patting onto a hot pan burns your fingers and gives an uneven rotti.
Indian