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Cheese Bread

Makes one 8-inch loaf
and one long French loaf

 

This chewy cheese bread can be baked either in a standard loaf pan or as a long French loaf to be served warm for dinner. Both are so good that we suggest you make one of each, saving the pan loaf for sandwiches.

 

1 package (1 scant tablespoon) active dry yeast
1-3/4 cups warm water
2 teaspoons salt
3-1/2 to 4-1/2 cups white flour
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
Cornmeal

 

Put the yeast in a large bowl and pour 1/2 cup of the warm water over it. After a minute stir with your finger to make sure the yeast is dissolved.

Mitra Modarressi, the illustrator of Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!, is the daughter of Anne Tyler.

Mix the remaining 1-1/4 cups water with the salt and pour it over the dissolved yeast. Stir in the flour, a cup at a time, and when the dough becomes hard to stir, turn it out onto a floured work surface. Let the dough rest while you clean out the bowl.

Scrape up the dough and knead it for 10 minutes, adding more white flour as necessary, until it is smooth and elastic.

Rub the cleaned bowl lightly with soft butter or vegetable oil and return the dough to it, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until almost tripled in size, 2 to 3 hours.

Punch the risen dough down and turn it out onto the floured surface. Spread it out and sprinkle the cheese all over. Then roll the dough up and knead it just long enough to incorporate the cheese into the dough.

Grease an 8-inch loaf pan. Using about two-thirds of the dough, form a loaf and place it in the greased pan. Roll the remaining dough into a 10 to 12 inch long loaf and place on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover each loaf with a kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in size-about 45 minutes.

After the bread has risen for 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place the loaves in the oven. Remove the French loaf after 18 to 20 minutes, when the top is golden. Turn down the heat to 350 degrees and let the pan loaf bake for another 10 minutes. Cool on racks.

 

from:
Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!:
The Ultimate Breadmaking Book for Parents and Kids
By Judith and Evan Jones
Illustrated by Mitra Modarressi
Houghton Mifflin Company
Hardback, $16.00
144 pages, Concealed Wire-o binding
ISBN: 0-395-89256-2
Recipe reprinted by permission.

 
 

Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!

• About the Book
  
• About the Authors
  

• Recipes

• Cheese Bread
  
• Flowerpot Bread
  
• Grandma McLeod's Gingerbread
  
• Sculptured Bread
  

 
 

Back to the main Kids' Cookbooks page.

 
 

This page created November 1999