This is a beautiful high and light single loaf with that
tangy kick:
Cheddar cheese. Mixed into the bread, the cheese offers an
enhancement of flavor rather than a smothering as one would have when dipping in a sauce or melting a slice of
cheese onto a slice of
bread. Bread-making is a great harvest pastime and a good way to engage in seasonally-appropriate activities; that's why this is a suggested recipe for the
autumn months. A good heavy
picnic food as well.
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 cup (8 fl oz) lukewarm milk (about 100ºF)
- 2 tablespoons (1 oz) butter
- Just under 4 cups--or about 15 oz--of flour--use until desired consistency
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 1/2 oz mature cheddar cheese, grated
Directions:
Combine the yeast and the milk and then stir, leaving for 15 minutes to dissolve. Meanwhile, melt the butter and let it cool. When it's cool and the yeast is dissolved, add the butter to the yeast mix. Take out another bowl and combine the flour and the salt. Make a well in the middle of the dry mix and pour in the wet mix. (I suggest using three cups of flour and mix the salt into that, and then make the well, pour the wet in, and add more flour as needed. Add the flour until it's a rough dough of a consistency that is easily kneaded.) Knead the bread dough on a floured surface until it's smooth and elastic. Return the dough to the bowl, cover it with a towel, and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled, which will take anywhere from 2 to 3 hours.
Grease a 9 x 5 inch bread tin. Punch the dough down and knead in the last ingredient: The cheese. Knead it for a while to make sure that the cheese is distributed evenly throughout. Pick up the dough and twist it in the middle, curling the ends in also so that it will fit in the bread tin. Leave it in the warm spot again until the dough rises above the rim of the tin (45 minutes to an hour). Preheat the oven to 400º F, then bake the bread for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 375º F and bake 15 to 30 minutes longer, until the bread can be turned out of the tin onto a rack and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Wait until cool before cutting.
Yield: 1 high loaf
Source: Paraphrased from Day, Complete Baking
Use for: Lughnasadh, Mabon
Pagan recipes