Day 34 - Italian Herb and Cheese Bread

I wanted to have some bread to go with tonight's dinner of penne with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella pearls and fresh basil so, I decided to make it (of course!).

For this one, I again used my trusty ol' Fannie Farmer Cookbook Thirteenth Edition, p. 515; author, Marion Cunningham; publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., a division of Random House; ISBN 0-394-56788-9.  The recipe is for white bread and underneath the entry there are variations, one being the Italian Herb and Cheese Bread.









     White Bread
     2 tablespoons shortening or vegetable oil
     2 teaspoons salt
     2 tablespoons sugar
     1 cup hot milk
     1 cup hot water
     1 package dry yeast
     ¼ cup warm water
     6 cups white flour, approximately

     Mix the shortening, salt, and sugar in a large bowl, add the hot milk and hot water, and let cool to lukewarm. 

In a small bowl or cup mix the yeast with the ¼ cup warm water and let it stand for 5 minutes to dissolve.  Add the dissolved yeast and 3 cups of the flour to the first mixture and beat until well blended. 

*Add 2 more cups of flour, mix, and turn out onto a lightly floured board.

 Knead for a minute or two and then let rest for 10 minutes.  Adding just enough of the remaining flour so that the dough is not sticky, resume kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Put the dough in a large, greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm spot until double in bulk. 

Punch down and shape into two loaves.  Place in greased loaf pans, cover, and let double in bulk again.

Preheat oven to 425ºF.  Bake bread for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 375ºF, and bake for 30 minutes more.  Remove from pans and cool on racks.

Italian Herb and Cheese Bread.  Mix 2 cloves garlic, minced, 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, and ¼ cup chopped fresh basil or 2 tablespoons dried, crumbled, and add with the last batch of flour*.

     I neglected the step of kneading for a minute or two and then letting the dough sit for 10.  It just completely escaped me and I wanted rounded loaves, so I decided not to use the pans.  I also added 1½ teaspoons or dried oregano to the dough.  It smelled so delicious when I was mixing it and I could just imagine it dipped in olive oil and vinegar.  Yummmmmmmm...Then house smelled so good as it was baking, too.
    I can always tell when I'm baking something if it has gone past its' peak point, so to speak.  You know, when the bottom of the cookies are a little too brown or if the cheese on the lasagna is darker than I'd like.  Unfortunately, the aroma takes a lot longer to drift into the room down the hall, so by the time I smell it, the items in the oven are "well done".  This happened with the bread today.  I didn't burn it, it's just the crust was definitely browner than I would have liked it to be, so it was crunchier on the outside.  I was disappointed because I had been looking at focaccia recipes and was going to do one of those, but changed my mind and went with this one.  So, I'm sure I had the preconceived idea of a soft crust and a really soft, tasty bread.  Despite the fact that the crust was not up to par, the inside however, was soft and delicious.  The herbs combined with the cheese were really tasty.  And it did taste really good dipped in the olive oil and balsamic vinegar!  The rating on a scale of 1 to 4 rolling pins:  I give this bread a 3. 
     Happy baking!