Monday, November 17, 2014

Cheddar-chunk and chive sandwich loaf

At this point, I've thrown a lot of things into loaves of bread, but there's always more experimenting that can be done. Some new twist. A different combination of ingredients.

This time, my unusual ingredient is mayonnaise. It might sound odd, but it really isn't. Mayonnaise is mostly egg yolks and oil, and both are common ingredients in bread. And not only bread. I've used mayonnaise in cake recipes, as well. It adds moistness and a little bit of tanginess.

And it makes perfect sense in sandwich bread, since mayonnaise is such common ingredient in sandwich assembly.

When you're adding cheese to bread, you have two options. You can shred it so that it's well-distributed into the bread. Depending on the cheese, shredded cheese can almost disappear into the loaf.

Or, you can leave the cheese in larger pieces so it forms melted pockets in the loaf. This time around, I opted for larger pieces.

You can use either white or yellow cheddar for this recipe, but yellow cheddar will be more visible in the loaf.

Cheddar-Chunk and Chive Sandwich Loaf
This makes a great sandwich loaf, and it's nice all by itself. Or along with breakfast. If you toast it, be careful because the cheese will melt and make a mess of your toaster. On the other hand, of you toast it in a skillet, that cheese will get nice and brown and crisp.

1 cup water
2 1/4 teaspoons Red Star active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cup (13 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup regular mayonnaise
4 ounces cheddar cheese, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 tablespoon dry chives

Combine the water, yeast, sugar, flour, salt, and mayonnaise in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix slowly until the ingredients are combined, then raise the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is elastic.

You can also knead by hand, if you like.

Add the cheese and chives and continue mixing until both are well-distributed throughout the dough. If the cheese seems to be breaking up as you mix, you can do this by hand.

Cover the bowl and set aside until the dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour, 15 minutes.

When the dough has risen, flour your work surface lightly and spray a 9x5 loaf pan with oil or baking spray.

Turn out the dough and form it into a log about 8 inches long. Try to keep most of the chunks of cheese from poking through the dough. Place the log, seam-side down, in the prepared loaf pan. Cover the loaf pan with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until the dough rises slightly about the rim of the pan, about 40 minutes.

While the dough is rising, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the plastic wrap and bake the loaf until it's nicely browned, about 40 minutes.

Remove the bread from the pan and let it cool completely on a rack before slicing.

This makes a great sandwich loaf, and it's nice all by itself. Or along with breakfast. If you toast it, be careful because the cheese will melt and make a mess of your toaster.

On the other hand, of you toast it in a skillet, that cheese will get nice and brown and crisp.

This post is sponsored by Red Star Yeast, which is pretty easy for me since it's the yeast I use pretty much all the time. And I'm totally serious about that. I buy it in 1- or 2-pound bags, because that's how much of it I use.

Not only do I love their yeast products, but they've got tons of useful information for consumers. Need an example? Here's a post about how to check to see if your yeast is still viable. And if you want to ogle pretty food photos, be sure to check out their Pinterest boards. LOTS of awesome stuff!

You can find Red Star Yeast on:
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