Roasted Garlic Cheddar Bread

Roasted Garlic Cheddar Bread

Bread & Baking, Recipes

Notes

This is a no-knead bread. It makes 4 one-pound loaves. You can double it or halve it, and the bread dough will keep for about a week in the fridge.

You need to roast the garlic before baking the bread.


The roasted garlic recipe can be scaled up to as many bulbs as you have.


The bread dough, the roasted garlic, and the fully baked bread can all be frozen.


1 bulb of garlic = about 1 ice cube of frozen roasted garlic = about 1 tablespoon of roasted garlic

Equipment

Baking stone (could substitute a greased bread pan, I haven’t tried it, but should work fine)

Pizza peel

Stand Mixer with dough attachment

Clean cotton dishtowel

Serrated knife

The usual collection of bowls, measuring spoons and cups, spatulas, etcetera.

Ingredients

Roasted Garlic

3 bulbs garlic

1 tablespoon of olive oil, divided into 3 teaspoons

  Instruct

The Bread

3 cups lukewarm water. If you have whey available, substitute 1 cup water with 1 cup whey.

2 tablespoons roasted garlic (about 2 to 3 bulbs worth)

1 2/ tablespoons of granulated baking yeast. (2 packets)

1 ½ tablespoons Kosher salt.

1 ½ tablespoons sugar

1 cup rye flour

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese. I used the “medium sharp orange stuff” that comes pre-packaged at the grocery store, but you do you. I imagine this would be amazing with a good sharp white cheddar.

Cornmeal for dusting the pizza peel

Instructions – Roasted Garlic

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the top off of each garlic bulb to expose the bulbs. Leave the rest of the peel in place. If you make your own soup stocks, reserve the tops to add to your stock.

Place each bulb on a piece of aluminum foil that is big enough to wrap the garlic bulb.

Drizzle each bulb in about a teaspoon of olive oil and wrap it in the aluminum foil.

Place the wrapped garlic bulbs on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Open the aluminum foil wrapper to expose the garlic bulbs and bake for another 15 minutes, until tender.

Let cool, then squeeze the garlic and olive oil out of the skins into a bowl, or into ice cube trays if you are going to freeze it.

Instructions – The Bread

Preparing the dough

Mix the yeast, salt, sugar, garlic, and water in your mixer or a large mixing bowl.

Add the cheese and flour, mixing until the flour is completely mixed in and the dough has formed into a nice ball. Do not overmix.

Remove bowl from stand mixer, cover with dishtowel, place in a warm spot, and let rise until the dough has doubled in size (about 2 hours or so).

Lightly dust the dough with flour to make it easier to handle.

With the knife, cut the dough into 4 equal sections. This makes it easier to separate it into loaves for baking. If you have halved or doubled the recipe, adjust so that the sections are each 1 pound (about the size of a grapefruit).

Take each section one at a time and shape it into a ball or a baguette.

You can bake the same day or keep the dough in the fridge for about a week. If you refrigerate, put a loose cover on the container. If you decide to freeze, what I do is wrap the loaf in freezer paper, place that in a Ziplock freezer bag, and put it in the freezer, it will keep fine at least six months, probably longer.

When ready to bake:

Place the baking stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 450. Put an oven safe pan (like a broiler pan) on the shelf below the shelf with the baking stone.

Place the dough on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel. Dust the loaf with flour, then with a sharp knife, slash the top of the loaf in a pretty pattern. I usually use either a branching leaf design (like Vs over a central vertical slash) or a ladder cut. You can also wait and do the slashes right before baking, it mostly just changes a little how it looks after baking.

You can fit two loaves on one pizza peel if you want to bake two loaves at a time.

Let the loaf rise for about an hour.

Slide the loaf off the pizza peel onto the hot baking stone. (If it sticks, use a scraper or spatula to help unstick).

Pour a cup of hot tap water into the pan on the bottom shelf and quickly close the oven door.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until the loaf is nicely browned and a tap on it feels firm and sounds hollow.

Let cool to “just warm enough to melt butter” before slicing and eating.

*Recipe inspired by the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

Lemony Catfish and Bean Stew

Lemony Catfish and Bean Stew

Beans and Legumes, Fish and Seafood, Main Dish, Recipes

Ingredients 

  • 1 teaspoon dried orange peel or fresh lemon zest 
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice  
  • 1  teaspoon paprika 
  • 3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced 
  • ¾ teaspoon each salt and pepper, plus additional to taste 
  • 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick) 
  • 1 pound catfish, cut into bite sized chunks 
  • 6 to 12 cups fresh Swiss chard, cut into bite sized pieces. Can substitute spinach or kale 
  • ½ cup chopped celery leaf 
  •  2 large leeks halved lengthwise, then white and light green parts sliced into  ¼ to ½ inch thick sections (or substitute 1 large yellow onion, minced) 
  • 2 cups cooked any white beans (can substitute 1 15-ounce can white beans) 
  • 2 cups chicken broth (or two cups water plus a tablespoon of Better than Bouillon chicken base) 
  • 1 tablespoon dried or 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional) 

  Instructions:

Combine orange peel or lemon zest, paprika, garlic, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper in a bowl. Add catfish and toss to coat. 

 In a large pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. When butter is melted, add catfish and cook until done. Remove fish and set aside on a plate. 

Add leeks and additional salt and pepper, and cook over medium until leeks are soft. Add beans and chicken broth and bring to a boil then lower to simmer, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in reserved catfish and any juices from the plate, add parsley and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  

Serving ideas:  

  • serve over farfalle (bow-tie) pasta or over rice. 
  • serve as is with sliced good bread on the side. 
Colcannon with Mushrooms and Leeks

Colcannon with Mushrooms and Leeks

Easy, Main Dish, Recipes, Side Dishes

This is one of those “base recipes” I make. It’s a little different every time, depending on what ingredients I have on hand. I will note that this time I made it with roasted garlic, and that is a game changer. I served it alongside of a good kielbasa, but it also will go with just about anything, or even work as a main dish itself.

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Easy Corn Succotash

Beans and Legumes, Easy, Recipes, Side Dishes

I’m still working out this recipe, but I’m including it anyway because I want to save the current status and ingredients list. There’s a fair number of variations on succotash and I’m taste-testing my way around, to find out what works for both A) I love it and B) I happen to have ingredients on hand. Lima beans always, because I love lima beans.

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