Anyone who knows me knows my dedication to cheese and carbs.  I try to surround myself with people who share this same passion/lifestyle.

Just to highlight what I mean by this:

This bread requires an overnight starter.  So you have to make a dough glob 24 hours in advance before you even get to start the process of making the dough glob that will eventually become this cheesy bread.  Mine didn’t turn out the first time.  So I did this twice.  Two days of dough globs in the name of cheese and carbs. Dedication.

Even after the dough glob has had a true DAY to become delicious it’s about 4-5 hours of kneading, proofing, etc before you can consume.  5 hours for a cheesy carb.  Dedication.

This bread has to get sprayed with water.  You essentially have to bath this bread (high maintenance/worth it) multiple times throughout this process.  I didn’t have a spray bottle lying around.  So I went out to get one.  At 10 pm.  After a glass of wine.  On a Tuesday.  Dedication.

You’ll notice I made this by hand, if you want instructions on using a mixer or bread machine click the below link. Or just be hard core like me.

From one of the highest ranked recipes on KingArthurFlour

You’ll need:

Starter/dough glob:

1.25 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

0.5 teaspoon instant yeast

1 cup cool water*

*The original recipe calls for 0.5 cups but when I used that amount the first time mine turned out way too dry.  I used 1 cup the second time and it worked.

 

Dough

All of the starter

1 teaspoons salt

1 cup + 2 tablespoons to 1.25 cups lukewarm water

3.5 cups Bread flour

0.5 teaspoon instant yeast

2 cups grated cheese**

** I used a lovely gouda from the farmers market, the recipe calls for gruyere but any melting cheese would work- mozzarella, provolone, fontina, etc.  You can also add in any kind of herb/garlic/additional seasoning you want.  The original recipe uses “pizza seasoning” and “garlic oil”.  The original recipe called for 2.5 cups of cheese but I was reading reviews where the cheese oozed all over the place so I went with slightly less plus that’s all I had.  Just keep in mind this is bread with a little cheese swirl and not some crazy super cheesy bread you order for late night.

 

To make the starter/dough glob: Mix the 1.25 cups flour, salt, yeast, and 1 cup water in a medium-sized bowl. Mix till well combined; the starter will be very dry. Cover and let rest overnight at room temperature. The next morning get up and look at the starter.  It should be bubbly/foamy.  If it looks like play-doh try again using more water. This whole starter process is what gives the bread a nice of depth of flavor and why I think this bread is more delicious than many others I have made.

To make the dough: Combine the starter with the water, salt, flour, and yeast.  Add the greater amount of water when conditions are dry, less when conditions are humid.  Knead the dough until it is smooth.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 1.5-2 hours, till it’s doubled in bulk.

Gently deflate the dough.  Pat and stretch it into a ¾” thick rectangle, about 9” by 12”.  Spray bottle time! Sprtiz with warm water and sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Now it’s kind of like making a cinnamon roll.  Roll the bread into a log, long ways, pinching the seam to seal.  Place the log, seam side down, on lightly floured surface.  Cover and let rise for 1-1.5 hours, till it’s puffy though not doubled in bulk.  Toward the end of the rising time preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Gently cut the log into four crosswise slices (I think in the future I’ll try cutting these into eight slices for more individual rolls- if you try this let me know how it goes).  Place them on two parchment- lined baking sheets, cut side up.  Spread them open a bit, if necessary, to more fully expose the cheese (I wish I had done this more aggressively).  Spritz with the warm water, and immediately place them in the preheated oven.

Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and the loves are golden (keep an eye on them).  Remove from oven and let cool (I obviously didn’t… just started cutting slices and taking in the utter bliss that is warm cheesy carbs fresh out of the oven).