Local Cheese Loaf

I made the second recipe from the book "Bread Revolution". The first bread that I've tried was the Potato and Rosemary Bread, which was very good, and so is this cheese loaf.

The authors used local cheese from Cheddar, in south-west England, with their bakery just a few miles down the road. I am so envious that local made cheese are so easily available over there! The cheeses in Malaysia, are imported, and besides being expensive, (some are excessively expensive!), many types of cheeses cannot be found over here.

Cheddar Cheese is one of the common cheese that can be easily obtained from any supermarkets over here, and even though they are not entirely cheap, at least they are affordable. 

This Cheese Loaf uses strong, hard cheese like Cheddar, or any other local hard cheese if available. According to the book, "You want a cheese that will melt and ooze right into this loaf, rather than stay in little cheesy pockets, and one with a strong enough flavour. The taste of mild cheeses such as Brie will just get lost." 

Firstly, the yeast is dissolved in some water and mix with the rest of the ingredients and the mixture is kneaded by hand until smooth, and placed, covered, in an oiled bowl until doubled in size.

After the first rising, punch down the dough, shape into a ball, place on baking tray, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise until doubled in size. I have made three scores on the risen dough just before baking, as seen from the photo in the book even though it is not stated in the recipe.

I have made half a recipe which yield one small loaf.

The bread bakes up a lovely crusty brown. And I'm so happy to see the scores on the bread did not disappear!

Smells so wonderful with cheese while the bread is baking. Makes me so impatient to eat it!

Could not wait for it to cool down! I was surprised to find that the crust is not hard and crispy, but rather soft and nice.

This Cheese Loaf has a beautiful moist and soft texture. 

I can certainly taste the cheese in the bread.

And the good thing is, the crumb remains as soft on the next day. I enjoyed slices of it with salted butter and a cup of hot black coffee. Another keeper from this book!

Local Cheese Loaf
(adapted from "Bread Revolution", Duncan Glendinning and Patrick Ryan)
makes 2 small 400 gm or 1 lb loaves
500 gm (1 lb 2 oz/3-1/3 cups) strong white flour
10 gm (2 tsp) fine sea salt
10 gm (2 tsp) golden caster (superfine) sugar
100 gm (3-1/2 oz/1 cup) grated strong local cheese, ideally a hard cheese such as cheddar
10 gm (2 tsp) fresh yeast or 7 gm (1-1/2 tsp) dried or fast-action yeast
300 ml (10-1/2 fl oz) water

1. Combine the flour with the salt, sugar and grated cheese in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Crumble the yeast into the water and stir to dissolve. Pour the yeasted water into the well and bring together into a dough with your hands or with a spatula.
2. Turn the dough out on to a clean kitchen surface and knead for 10 minutes or until you achieve the windowpane effect. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and allow to prove for about 60 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
3. Turn the dough out on to a clean surface and knock it back, then allow it to rest for about five minutes. Divide the rested dough into two equal portions. Shape into two nice ball loaves and place on a baking tray, allowing enough space so that the loaves will not touch while proving. Cover them with a damp cloth and allow to prove for another 60 minutes. They should double in size.
4. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F/Gas 7) and put a roasting tray in the bottom. When ready to bake, place the loaves in the oven and steam by adding ice cubes or cold water to the tray. After about 15 minutes reduce the oven temperature to 190C (375F/Gas 5), as the cheese in the dough will naturally caramelize quite quickly. Continue baking for a further 15-20 minutes, until golden and the base of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

kitchen flavours notes :
~ made half a recipe, use a scant half teaspoon of salt as the cheese is already salty
~ use 150ml of water, plus 1 tablespoon.

#101/100

I'm linking this post with :

Cook-Your-Books #5 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

And I'm sharing this post with :
Bake Your Own Bread @ Sweet and That's It
See Ya In The Gumbo @ Ms. enPlace
My Meatless Mondays @ My Sweet and Savory
Food on Friday : Bread @ Carole's Chatter

Potato and Rosemary Bread

I'm nuts over cookbooks, I know most of you are too! Haha! When I was at BookXcess several months ago, could not help adding another bread making book to my collection, especially since it is quite cheap. :o)

I bought "Bread Revolution", and the first recipe that I've tried from this book is Potato and Rosemary Bread, one which I really like! It uses three of my favourite ingredients, potato, rosemary and garlic, which are so perfect for each other, and now pairs so well in a bread.

Russet potato, garlic and rosemary

Firstly you will need to roast the garlic still in their skins until the flesh is soft and tender. The potato is peeled, cut to chunks and boil till tender, then mashed. Do not throw away the water from the boiled potato, use it for the recipe, replacing the water. The rosemary are finely chopped. Refer to the instructions in the recipe below for the steps that follows.

This book is all about making the bread by hand. There's no instructions on using the stand mixer or the bread machine. The steps are really easy to follow, though for impatient me, I can get easily irritated with sticky dough sticking to my hands, but according to the two authors, be persistent and continue on. Wow, they knew! Haha! OK, I'm a good gal and followed their advice. :)

The dough is rather sticky, I guess, mostly due to the mashed potato, and I ended up using about an additional 1 cup of flour. Our hot and humid weather is not helping either, it does affect the water absorption of the flour. The next time I will reduce the water instead. Even though the recipe says to knead until the window-pane stage, I never did get to that stage, and figured that the dough would be fine after kneading for some time, about 20 minutes, and carry on with the next step as per the instructions in the recipe.

This recipe makes a very huge loaf, next time I'll divide the dough and make them into two smaller loaves instead. It has a lovely crust, somewhat soft when the bread is cool.

The bread texture is soft and very tasty. And it stays as soft the very next day too.

A lovely bread eaten with salted butter, and is so delicious with hot mushroom soup. This recipe is a keeper.

Potato & Rosemary Bread
(adapted from "Bread Revolution", Duncan Glendinning & Patrick Ryan)
Makes 1 large 800gm or 2lb loaf
1/2 bulb of garlic
200 gm (7 oz) potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
500 gm (1 lb 2 oz / 3-1/3 cups) strong white bread flour (I've used an additional 1 cup)
10 gm (2 tsp) fine sea salt (I use 1-1/4 tsp)
2 heaped tsp chopped rosemary leaves
10 gm (2 tsp) fresh yeast or 7 gm (1-1/2 tsp) dried or fast-action yeast
250 ml (9 fl oz / 1 cup) water (I use water from the boiled potatoes)
3 tsp rapeseed or olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F/Gas 4) and put the garlic, with its skin on, in a roasting dish. Bake for about 20 minutes or until soft. Squeeze out the flesh from three garlic cloves. You can give yourself a head start by doing this in advance and use the rest of the garlic as the perfect addition to soups and mashed potato.
2. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain and mash - or if you have some boiled potatoes or mash left over from last night's dinner, even better. (If the mash is creamy, hold back a little of the water when you mix it into the flour).
3. Mix the flour with the salt, rosemary, garlic and potato in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Crumble the yeast into the water and stir to dissolve. Pour the yeasted water and the oil into the well and bring together into a dough with your hands or with a spatula. At this point, things may get a little messy but be persistent and continue mixing. As the flour is incorporated the dough will start to take shape.
4. Turn the dough out on to a clean kitchen surface and knead for 10 minutes or until you achieve the windowpane effect. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave to prove for about 60-80 minutes or until doubled in size.
5. Turn the dough out on to a clean surface and knock it back, then allow it to rest for about five minutes. Shape the dough into a loaf as desired, or pop it into a lightly oiled large loaf tin. Cover the loaf with a damp cloth and allow to prove again for 50-60 minutes. The loaf should double in size.
6. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F/Gas 7) and put a roasting tray in the bottom. When ready to bake, place the loaf in the oven and steam by adding ice cubes or cold water to the tray. Bake the loaf for 30-35 minutes, until golden and the base sounds hollow.

#94/100

I'm linking this post with :

Cook-Your-Books #4 hosted by Kitchen Flavours

I'm also sharing this post with :

Twelve Loaves September : Farmers Market @ That Skinny Chick Can Bake

Bake Your Own Bread @ Sweet And That's It

See Ya In The Gumbo @ Ms. enPlace

My Meatless Mondays @ My Sweet And Savory
Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage
Food On Friday : Bread @ Carole's Chatter