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James Beard's Cheese Bread

Category: Breads

Author: The Savvybearcat

Date: 1/1/2007

Rating:

(2.5) by 2 users

Ingredients:

1 package Active dry yeast
1 tbsp Granulated sugar
1 3/4 cup Warm (100-115 deg) water
5 To 6 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp Salt, or to taste
1/4 cup Butter, softened
1 tsp Tabasco
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
3/4 cup Gruyere or Emmenthaler cheese, shredded

Instructions:

Dissolve the yeast with the sugar in 1/4 cup of the warm water and
allow to proof. In a large bowl, mix 5 cups of flour and the salt.
Make a well in the center and add the remaining 1 1/2 cups warm
water, the butter, the Tabasco, and the yeast mixture. Stir with a
wooden spoon or spatula or with your floured hands until the dough is
well amalgamated. Turn out on a heavily floured board (use 1/2 cup
flour) and knead for 10 to 12 minutes or until the dough is smooth,
elastic, and rather satiny in texture and all the flour on the board
is absorbed; add flour if you need it. Place the dough in a buttered
or oiled bowl and turn to coat on all sides. Cover with a towel and
let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk, 1-1/2 to 2
hours or slightly more.
Punch down the dough, turn it out on a lightly floured board, and
knead in the cheeses. When thouroughly blended, cut the dough in half
and let rest for 10 minutes, then roll out each half into a rectangle
about 11 X 6 inches and let rest for 2 or 3 minutes more. Roll each
triangle up, pinching the edges as you do so, and tucking in the ends
so that the loaf measures about 4-1/2 X 7-1/2 inches. Place the dough
in two well buttered tins, cover, and let rise in a warm spot until
the bread has reached the top of the tin, or slightly higher, or has
more or less doubled in size.
Bake on the center of the middle rack of a preheated 375F deg oven
for approximately 30 minutes, or until the loaves sound hollow when
removed from the tins and rapped with the knuckles on both top and
bottom. Bake directly on the oven rack, without the tins, for a few
minutes to firm the crust. Cool the bread on racks before slicing.
VARIATIONS:
* Instead of the butter, use 1/3 cup peanut oil or olive oil. Also
use oil on the baking tins.
* Use fresh Parmesan orRomano only - a little over a cup - or use a
mixture of the two.
* Use sharp shredded Chedder instead of the Gruyere cheese.
* Bake as one loaf in a 10 X 4-1/2 X 3-inch pan, which will make a
thicker , more concentrated loaf and will take slightly longer to
bake. SOURCE: Beard on Bread by James A. Beard Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
New York ISBN 0-394-47345-0