RECIPE - Cheddar, onion and parsley plait

As you've probably gathered by now, I love my bread machine but use it mostly for preparing doughs to shape by hand and bake in the oven. The cheese and parsley in this loaf help to keep it moist so IF - and it's a very big if - you can resist wolfing it all down on the day you make it, it will keep for several days before starting to taste stale. (Although take care in summer, hot, humid weather tends to make moist-doughed breads go mouldy very quickly).

A note about the flour I used - I love the Wessex Mill flours that I buy from my local farm shop, and in this loaf I used a 50/50 mixture of their onion flour and ordinary strong plain flour. The onion flour has a lovely strong taste and makes amazing onion bread, but I thought it would overpower the cheese and parsley if I used just that. If you can't get hold of onion flour, add 2 tablespoons of dried fried onion flakes, the kind that are sold for scattering over salads and soups, when you add the flour to the bread machine.

Recipe

My bread machine comes with a measuring cup and when I refer to cups, I mean a 240ml cup

1 cup water at room temperature
2 tbs dried milk powder
1 tbs caster sugar
1 tsp salt
125g finely grated Cheddar cheese, the stronger the better!
4-5 tbs finely chopped fresh parsley
3 cups flour (see note above) plus flour for dusting.
1½ tsp dried yeast

add the ingredients to your bread machine in the order that is usual for your machine and prepare the dough using the dough setting.

When the dough is ready, tip out onto a floured surface and knead lightly, then cut into three equal portions and roll into "sausages" about 40 cm long. Line a baking sheet with non-stick paper and place the rolls of dough on it. Pinch them firmly together at one end then plait very loosely, to allow the dough room to rise, pinching the ends together when you reach them.

Loosely cover with oiled cling film and leave until doubled in size - 40 minutes to an hour.

Place a small heatproof bowl of water in the bottom of the oven and heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/400F/gas mark6.

Cook the bread in the centre of the oven for around 25 minutes, until the base sounds hollow when tapped. Keep an eye on it in the last few minutes, as the cheese content means the crust can darken very rapidly! Cool on a rack (if you can wait that long before cutting in to it!)

I am sharing this recipe with Bready Steady Go! at Utterly Scrummy Food For Families and Jen's Food


As this bread would be gorgeous with a barbecues, I'm also sharing with Cooking with Herbs at Lavender and Lovage

Bread Machine Juniper and Thyme bread

It's really too hot and muggy to spend long in the kitchen at the moment, but thanks to the breads machine I can have lovely fresh, summery tasting bread without spending hours mixing and kneading.  You could bake this in the bread machine instead of just mixing it in it, but I like the flatter, almost focaccia-like shape that finishing it in the oven produces - and I like the opportunity to top it with olive oil and salt.

You will need:

275 ml water
500g strong plain flour
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 sachet (about 1½ tsp) easy blend yeast
a large handful of fresh thyme, woody stalks removed and coarsely chopped
2 tbs juniper berries, coarsely crushed in a mortar and pestle

plus olive oil and salt flakes to finish.

Place your ingredients in your bread machine in the order recommended for your machine - mine starts with the liquid and ends with the yeast, but they vary. Set it to the dough setting and start the machine, checking after 10 minutes or so to make sure the dough looks to be a good texture, and adding water or flour if needed.

Prepare a baking tin by lightly greasing it. The tin I used is approx. 25cm x 20cm and 5cm deep.

When the dough is ready, tip it into the prepared tin and punch it down with your knuckles, spreading it over the tin at the same time until it fills the tin roughly evenly, with lots of knuckle indentations on the top. Drizzle olive oil over the top, allowing a little to pool in the indentations, then sprinkle with flaked sea salt. Cover with oiled cling film and leave for about 45 minutes until risen and puffy.

Preheat the oven to 230C (fan 210C), 450F, gas mark 8. When the dough is ready and the oven hot, bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Remove from the tin and check for doneness - you should hear a hollow sound when you tap the bottom. If not done, place back in the oven without the tin for another 5 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack, brushing with a little more olive oil while still hot.

I'm joining in with Cooking With Herbs at Lavender and Lovage

 

And #CookBlogShare at Supergoldenbakes