Kelly the Culinarian: March 2010

Monday, March 22, 2010

Stand Mixer Not-Sunday: Cheddar cheesy braided bread

This bread was out of this world amazing. I got the recipe from The Frugal Girl and it was fantastic. She specifically mentioned that ALDI cheddar cheese works just fine, which is great, since that's usually what I use. Here's her recipe:
3.5 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

1 teaspoon salt1 cup water

1/3 cup milk

1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) grated sharp cheddar cheese

In mixer bowl, combine 1.5 cups flour with the sugar, yeast, and salt. Heat water and milk to 120 degrees F, and add to dry ingredients. Beat for 3 minutes, and add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead in cheese, 1/2 cup at a time. Place kneaded dough into a bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled.
Punch dough down and divide into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a 12-14 inch rope. Braid three ropes together and place on a greased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining three ropes. Cover braids and let rise until doubled, 30-45 minutes.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack.

A stand mixer for this recipe is pretty critical. I also let my bread cold-rise in the fridge, which I think imparts better flavor. Also, I found the easiest way to knead the cheese into the bread was to take a little portion of the cheese, stick it in the middle and fold it onto itself. My bread wasn't as brown on top, but a little egg wash could fix that.
I'm going to try to this dough as a roll/bagel type concoction too.