Cracked Black Pepper Cheese...Bread!

Cracked Black Pepper Cheese Bread

I love cracked black pepper cheese bread!  Actually, I used to get it at a fresh bread store years ago and decided to make some since I have never found any in Utah!

While looking for something in the freezer, I discovered a chunk of parmesan that I had bought for a different recipe several weeks ago.  I also love spinach parmesan bread, but realized I didn't have any spinach so decided to find a recipe for cracked black pepper cheese bread instead!  I had some leftover asiago cheese leftover from making asiago bread and added that to the bread with the parmesan.  Now that I know I can make yeast bread without killing the yeast, I am fearless!

The recipe below is a combination of two recipes I found, and honestly, the more cheese the better!

So I thought today's song should take a detour from jazz to...Bread.  That's right, here's "Down on My Knees" by Bread.



Cracked Black Pepper Cheese Bread

•   3 cups flour

•   1/2 tsp active dry yeast

•   1 tsp Kosher salt

•   1 ½ cups warm water

•   2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

•   2 tbsp. freshly cracked black pepper

•   4 oz Asiago cheese, cut into quarter-inch cubes

•   4 oz Parmesan cheese, cut into quarter-inch cubes

Add yeast to warm water.  Stir and let sit for five minutes.  Put 2 cups flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl.  Stir together.  Put olive oil in center of flour mixture.  Add yeast mixture.  Stir with a fork until combined.

Stir into dough.  Add one-half cup of flour.  Stir then knead. 

Add cheeses and mixture together.

Add last one-half cup of flour.  Knead.  The dough should be slightly gooey.

Let rise for an hour or until double. 

Spray large cookie sheet with Pam.

Divide dough in half.  Shape each half into a 16-inch long log with a diameter less than 2 inches.

Cover with waxed paper and let rise for another hour.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-28 minutes.   

Let bread cool on rack.

Are You Undecided about Well-Balanced Meals?

I try to eat well. And some days I am better at it than others.

So a meal of open-faced ham sandwich on asiago bread that I made, broiled tomatoes topped with parmesan and basil, cut apples, and Cugino's Greek lemon rice soup.  I added wild rice.  Such a wonderfully delicious meal!

So when faced with a decision of whether to eat healthier, don't be indecisive. Balanced can be tasty!

The song "Undecided" sung by Ella Fitzgerald with Chick Webb's orchestra is one of the first jazz songs I can remember listening to as a child.  Fortunately, I wasn't undecided about my love of jazz!

Asiago Bread: When It's Sleepy Time

Asiago Bread

Yesterday I made asiago bread for the first time!

I used to be afraid of making bread that had any yeast in it.  I just skipped over that section in the cookbook and went straight to "quick bread" recipes.

When I was seven, I helped my mom make French bread and I accidentally killed the yeast by making the water too hot.  My mom wasn't upset, but from then on I thought I could never make yeast breads...ever.

Fortunately, I've now made two kinds of yeast breads: focaccia (which I make all the time) and asiago bread!  In fact, yesterday I made both.  I used the oven timer for raising the focaccia dough and the microwave timer for raising the asiago bread dough!  It is important to keep the details straight when making yeast breads!

Ironically, the recipe for asiago bread is from the Betty Crocker Cookbook.  I looked online for other recipes, but couldn't find one better.  I'm glad I stuck with the old stand-by because it came out great!

Let me just say that making bread is exhausting!  As satisfied as I was with my results, it's definitely faster to let a bakery do the work.  So in light of exhaustion, here's "When It's Sleepy Time Down South," an old jazz song sung by Louis Armstrong.