Cheese Bread!

wahoo!

2 1/2 cups warm water (about as warm as you'd make a bath)
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 cup honey
5 to 6 cups of flour
2 1/2 tsp salt


1. Make a sponge. Combine water, yeast, honey, and 3 cups of flour. Mix in a metal bowl (it will hold it's temperature better). This will be a runny, spongy mess. Let it sit for 1 hour.

After 1 hour it should be nice and bubbly.


If you use a mixer, dump the sponge into the mixer. Add the remaining flour and salt. Add a cup at a time until you get the desired consistency. It should pull away from the sides. It should be soft, but not sticky.


After you get the desired consistency, add the cheese. I just cut up medium cheddar cheese into 1" cubes. I use about 1 pound. You can add anything you want at this point. Raisins, cinnamon, nuts, berries, anything!


Let the dough rise for about 2 hours. I let this one rise, then I added more cheese. Then I let it rise again. So it looks kind of strange because the cheese broke up a lot more. It made for a really soft bread though, so it was great.


Shape the dough into the desired shape. I like rounds. You can make loaves if you want. You can make them bigger or smaller.


Let the oven warm to 330 degrees. Let the loaves proof near the warming oven. They should get a little bigger feeling bigger, but not puffy to the touch.


Bake for about 35 minutes. Don't forget about the bread after the timer goes off, like I did! These are a little over done. At the bakery we would try to take the bread out when it was exactly done or just underdone and let it bake a little longer on the rack. I have a hard time reaching that level at home. There is an internal temperature you can test for, but i can't remember what it is! If you don't like your loaves to run together, don't put them close together. I LOVE the spots where the loaves are running together so that's whey I keep this method.



That's it!