Marion's Miscellaneous Musings

Making Bread

There is a certain cachet that we accord to those who can make bread.  They know exactly how much flour to use, under varying humidity (here in the almost desert, it can vary from 10 to 100 percent).  They know exactly when the dough is "elastic" enough to stop kneading.  They know where in the oven to place to bread to the air flow conditions allow perfect baking.  Etc., etc., ad nauseum.

I make bread.  More properly, I make two recipes fairly decently.  I did try to make rye bread recently, and it was a...failure.  My Danish student said it tasted good, but I think she is just naturally nice and said it to make me feel good.  It tasted OK, but for some reason it dried out before we finished eating it.  There was something missing.

So today I decided to make Asiago Cheese Bread (recipe below), one of the two I make.

I sautéed the onions and garlic, and then put them in the mixing bowl to cool off, so that the yeast does not contact hot butter and die.  I proofed the yeast with a little water and sugar and set it aside.  Then we finished putting dinner in the crockpot and ate lunch.

After lunch, I put water and eggs into the mixing bowl with the onions and garlic, and then discovered that I add the onions and garlic later.  Well, I mixed them in anyway, it was a little hard to separate them.  So I started adding flour.  It is always tricky to put in the right amount of flour, so this time I decided not to measure and just added flour until the dough ball looked right.  I set the stand mixer to knead and started chopping up asiago cheese.

At this point I would like to point out that any cheese bread you buy at a grocery store has the cheese sprinkled on top, then put in the oven and the cheese is reduced to a crackly mess.  The rest of the bread tastes like white bread, and you have paid extra money for crackly cheese that tastes half burnt.  In the recipe I use, the cheese is cut into cubes and put inside the bread, where you can actually taste it. 

And I might also add that one time I had Parmesan but not Asiago, and Parmesan just doesn't work.  So you don't have to experiment on friends like I did.

I weighed the bread, divided the dough almost exactly in half, ( I weighed it.  One of them was 822 grams, the other was 776 grams.) folded in the pieces of cheese, put them in the pans, and put a towel over them so they could rise.

Then my husband asked me if I wanted to put the yeast in.

At this point, the bread aficionado would have thrown the loaves away and started over.

I am not a bread aficionado.

I put the two loaves back together, added the yeast mixture, added more flour, kneaded it by hand for perhaps two minutes and separated it into two loaves (this time without weighing) and hoped for the best.

It turned out pretty good!

I am beginning to suspect that those who make bread and talk about the right amount of flour and water and elasticity and humidity are just blowing smoke.

Anyway, here is the recipe.  I used water instead of wine (it tastes better and it less dry), but milk also works if you prefer.  The entire cooking time was 36 minutes.  Oh, and I don't preheat the oven before the bread rises. And, since I used a stand mixer, it only rose once.  I used a dry towel, the damp one is cold.

Here is an Asiago Cheese Bread recipe that calls for wine and garlic. It comes from Margaret Fox's Cafe Beaujolais. Note: not tested in a bread machine. Go the old-fashioned way of bowl & spoon!

Preheat Oven 375 degrees Makes two loaves

6 tbsp unsalted butter
6 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup minced scallions

2 pkgs dry yeast
4 tsp sugar
1/4 cup warm water

2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
6-6 1/2 cups flour
1 lb. aged Asiago cheese, 1/2" cubes

Saute onions & garlic in butter for i minute. Avoid
browning. Dissolve yeast & sugar in water. Set
aside 10 minutes. In large bowl, whisk yeast w/
eggs, salt and wine. Gradually add 3 cups flour-
mix thoroughly. Add onions and garlic. Add remain-
ing flour. Knead on floured board till smooth and
springy. Cover and let rest. Place in greased
large bowl to rise. Cover with damp towel.
II.

Divide dough in 1/2. Knead half of the Asiago in
each. Grease two loaf pans or form dough in rounds.
Cover dough, let rise till doubled.
Bake 25 min.-then 5-15 minutes more.

Cool 30 minutes before slicing.

posted by Marion @ 6:48 PM