Friday, October 30, 2009

Jalapeno Cheddar Bread


We made this bread on Wednesday, October 30th, 2009. Crazy how well they turned out and so delicious!

Ingredients

  • 2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1-1/3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
  • 1/4 cup minced jalapeno peppers
  • 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup warm water (90 degrees)
  • .2 ounces active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, combine 2-2/3 cups of flour, cheese, jalapenos, 2 tablespoons sugar and the salt; mix well.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine the water, yeast and remaining 2 teaspoons of sugar. Let sit about 10 minutes; stir until all yeast is dissolved.
  3. Add the oil to the liquid mixture, stirring . Add half of the liquid mixture to the flour mixture. Mix with hands to moisten flour as much as possible. Add remaining liquid mixture to dough and mix until flour is thoroughly incorporated.
  4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand until smooth and elastic to the touch, about 15 minutes, gradually adding only enough additional flour to keep dough from sticking.
  5. Place in a large greased bowl and invert dough so top is greased; cover with a dry towel and let stand in a warm place (90 - 100F) until doubled in size, about 45 min. Punch down dough.
  6. To Make Bread: Pop any large air bubbles by pinching them. Form into loaf. (Note: I like roll out the dough, which pops all bubbles easily and quickly.) Place in greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan. Cover with towel again and allow to rise until almost doubled in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.
  7. Bake at 300 degrees F (165 degrees C) until light brown and done, about 40-45 min. (We created an aluminum foil tent for 30 min of the cooking and removed for 10 min to brown the outside of the loaf.) Remove from pan as soon as bread will easily lift out, after about 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool about 1 hour before slicing.