cheese bread

Another recipe from King Arthur's Baker's Companion.

First of all, I have to point out that without my mixer, I would never be able to muster the energy or motivation to bake multiple breads in a week. It's been a godsend, particularly since I might have overdone it with the lifting yesterday while working on cookie dough for our church's Holiday Fair.

I made this cheese bread for 3 reasons -- 1) I am trying to methodically go through every recipe in the Baker's Companion, 2) I wanted something suitable to go with the chili leftovers from last night, and 3) I had all the ingredients (including leftover tomato paste from the chili recipe). The dough mixed up great, but I had a little issue with the first rise. Namely, it didn't. The culprit was my kitchen -- too cold. Later I noticed the thermostat read a perfectly respectable 70 degrees -- toasty warm for October, downright chilly for rising bread. After shaping the dough, I moved it into my relatively sauna-like bedroom (great afternoon sun in there) for the 2nd rise and it did a bit better, although it didn't rise to the extent that I had hoped.

No matter... I put it in the oven after about an hour (15 minutes longer than the recipe indicated) and it did fine. It probably wasn't as "high-rising" as King Arthur had intended, but given my many recent unintentionally flat loaves, I was happy with the results. The house smells great -- rather like cheddar Pepperidge Farm goldfish!