cheddar cheese, olives & bread

The bread experience is a great one; do not pay attention to the fact that it takes some time to prepare your own bread, it is totally worth it, not only that... it makes your home to feel more welcoming. This bread is an item on the to-do-list for quite some time, this is definitely not the last time I am preparing it :)

Ingredients

(recipe from Baking Glory)

1 package dry yeast

1 tsp honey

1 cup milk

1 tbsp olive oil

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour + plus more for surface

1 cup whole wheat flour

pinch of salt+ black pepper

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

80g chopped Kalamata olives

Cheddar can be replaced with any other cheese hard enough to be grated and you can vary in your choice of olives (however, for me the Kalamata sort are the most aromatic ones, that add nice taste, colour and aroma at the same time), maybe even a mixture of black/ green olives would be nice to make it more colourful..

This is how to prepare the dough:

The package of dry yeast is dissolved in 1/4 cup slightly warm water together with the spoon of honey. Let it get foamy, it will get to this point (I was afraid mine will not get foamy, but it did ;) Then in a big bowl 1 1/4 cups flour, the whole wheat flour, milk, olive oil, salt&pepper and yeast mixture are stirred together well into a sticky dough.

Olive and cheddar pieces are sprinkled on it, then the mixing continues and gradually add another cup flour to form a more steady dough ball. The ball is left in a greased bowl to rise for an hour (until double in size); when it rises the dough fills itself with air, so we poke it once to let air out, take the dough ball with oily hands and put it on a floured surface and roll it out.

Then we form a roll that will fit in the bread tin (which is also pre-greased on the walls) and put the roll with the seam down and then let it rise again until double in size in the bread form :) Bread is baked in a preheated at 190C oven for about 40 minutes or until nicely baked. 

You have to wait for a while before you can take it out of the form, Then keep it well packed in a towel (after completely cooled down), so it stays moist and soft :)

The bread then makes for jolly good sandwiches :)