Spiced Béchamel Chicken Bread
Béchamel is essentially white sauce in French. It's made by mixing flour and butter to make a roux (paste) and then adding milk to thicken. It's a sauce that you can then flavor with many spices and use it as a base for pretty much any dish. This Chicken Bread recipe is actually a family favorite and only made by my older sister, when we're all together. Not only is she a QUEEN at making this but it's also her who introduced it to me. She makes a delicious Garam Masala spiced Béchamel sauce with herbs and chicken, then bakes it to perfection in a delicious soft dough.
For this recipe I'm using my Easy 10 Minute Dough recipe which will give you 2 loaves enough for the filling. But you can use any store bought bread or pizza dough of choice, or even puff pastry!
Filling Ingredients:
Makes 2 loaves
1 cup Cooked/Shredded Chicken or 1 lb Ground Chicken (raw)
1/2 Bunch Green Onions (thinly sliced)
1 Garlic Clove (minced)
2 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Flour
1 cup Milk
Salt (to taste)
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Garam Masala (ground)
Pinch of Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
Handful Chopped Cilantro
2 Thai Green Chilies (finely chopped, optional)
Egg Wash:
1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds or Everything But the Bagel Seasoning
1 Egg
2 tbsp Water
Method:
In a pan add your green onions, garlic, and butter.
Let them saute just until the onions start to become translucent/fragrant.
Now add the cooked shredded chicken, along with the spices: salt, pepper and nutmeg.
If you're using raw ground chicken, cook it through in the onions, garlic, butter and spices until it's no longer pink and the liquid it released evaporates and dries out.
Now add in your flour and mix until all the flour is incorporated into the chicken.
Drizzle in your milk slowly, stirring continuously, so no lumps form.
Let it heat through and thicken as you continue to mix.
Once thickened, add your garam masala and lemon juice.
Give it a good mix, then remove from heat, and add your chopped cilantro, and thai green chilies (if you want to give it a kick of heat).
Give it one last good mix and set aside to cool.
Assembly:
Roll out your dough to make a large rectangle (20cm L x 8in W x 1cm H).
Place it on your parchment lined baking sheet.
Placing it in front of you vertically, pour half the chicken filling down the middle of the dough.
Now whisk together your egg and water to make an egg wash.
Brush the dough edges with the egg wash you just made (this helps the dough to stick to each other and seal).
Cut 2 cm strips going down both sides of the dough using a pizza cutter or knife.
Think about making a Stromboli...starting from the top, simply cover the filling using the dough slits you just made, alternating sides, until all the filling is covered.
Here's a link to show you a diagram of what I'm talking about.
6. At this point your chicken bread will look like a Stromboli.
7. Go ahead and repeat the steps to make one more Stromboli for the other half of your filling.
8. Brush the tops with more egg wash, then sprinkle them with sesame seeds or everything but the bagel seasoning, if desired.
9. Bake the Chicken Bread at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes:
The 10 Minute Dough recipe gives you two loaves. So be sure to split the dough in half.
If you don't want to make your own dough, you can use store bought pizza or bread dough or puff pastry sheets.
Turn them into pinwheels, little rosettes, or even a large galette or mini meat pies.
Perfect for Iftar, Suhoor or a lunch for kids.
Don't want to bake both loaves at once? Freeze the assembled uncooked loaf of chicken bread unil frozen solid, then wrap in parchment paper, then saran wrap, then a final wrap in foil. Will freeze upto 3 months. No need to defrost, just unwrap, add to parchment lined baking sheet and bake, adding a few extra minutes to the bake time.
Serve it warm or at room temperature, and with a side of my Avocado Cilantro Chutney. It's sure to be a favorite at your home too! :)
