Don't Stand So Close to Me: Cheese and Garlic Infused Bread for These Distant Times

CHEESE AND GARLIC INFUSED BREAD

We promised you a recipe for bread suitable for these socially distanced times.  Well, what better way to make sure people keep their distance than bread with garlic?  Lots of garlic!

We just want you to know that it came out yummy:

If you'd like a slice, we're in Site C-4 at Cross Winds Family Campground in Linwood, North Carolina.  Drop by with your rubber gloves, hand sanitizer, thermometer and N95 (or greater) mask, and if you knock on our door, we'll shove a slice out the window to you.

But we get ahead of ourselves.  First the baking of the bread. Any good cook knows that this begins with gathering the ingredients, so we'll start with that.

Ingredients

1 glass of wine (to be measured liberally and applied internally)

1½ cups warm water (105-110 degrees)

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp salt

3½ - 4 cups bread flour (may use up to 1 cup of soy, almond or other alternate flour)

2¼ tsp yeast (1 pkg)

4-6 cloves (about 1/4 cup chopped) raw garlic

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Here you can see we've gathered our ingredients and have our recipe open for easy reference:

And now the fun.  We mix the dough.

Instructions

1. Apply wine.

2. Combine yeast and 1/2 cup warm water in a bowl and allow yeast to bloom (you should see beer-like foamy bubbles), about 5-10 minutes.

3. Grate cheese.

4. Peel garlic and chop into very small pieces.

Don't the cheese and garlic look cute together?

5. Add all ingredients other than garlic and cheese (start with olive oil and only add enough water to reach the right consistency) and knead for 8 minutes on medium using a mixer, or until dough is smooth and elastic if kneading by hand. (Feel free to add more flour to your kneading surface if necessary.)

6. Start to sprinkle in cheese and garlic as you continue kneading and folding the dough for another 2 minutes. Knead and fold until cheese and garlic is relatively evenly distributed.

7. Cover with a towel and allow dough to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, 1 to 1½ hours.

The perfect place to do this in an RV is the bathroom.  It's a small, enclosed space that can be warmed to just the right temperature with a space heater.  Wish we could do this for brewing beer, but that would require 2 weeks of space heating, which is both impractical and dangerous.  Be sure you cover the dough with a wet cloth, preferably a souvenir dish towel from the Australian Outback:

8. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and flatten to about 2 inches tall. Separate dough into two equal parts. Working with one section of the dough, gently punch the dough down and out, then folding the dough underneath itself. You will feel and hear air bubble pop. Repeat 3-4 times and tuck ends underneath so that the top is smooth. Place the dough, smooth side up, into a large loaf pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cover with a towel and allow to rise for 40-45 minutes. Repeat with the remaining section of dough.

9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

10. Once dough has finished the second rise, take a serrated knife and quickly and lightly slash each loaf once along the top. The cut should be shallow, just enough to aid in the rise while baking.  

We chose to sprinkle our unbaked loaves with parmesan cheese to augment that wonderful, cheesy flavor:

11. Bake loaves for 25-30 minutes, until the top is nicely browned. The bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

12. When done, allow loaves to cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing.

13. Apply additional wine to taste. 

À votre santé!