Tonight Igor and the kids joined us for spaghetti and cheese bread. It was a well-earned dinner, at least for Nephew and me, as we spent most of the day in the kitchen.
Nephew helped by prepping some un-used past-its-prime produce to go into the compost bin and also by turning 5 lbs of carrots, almost 2 lbs of celery, and two big bunches of radishes into fresh veggie munchie snax (he's a good chopper). I might add that he helped with gardening/yardwork, picked up dog poop outside, and dusted our whole living room and dining room!
I fixed french toast for breakfast; ran six big onions through the food processor and bagged them for freezing; hand-shredded 2 lbs of cheese; chopped up 1/2 of the 15 lb watermelon (the other half is at Chez Igor); prepared, cooked, and freezer-prepped the huge batch of rice with garlic and greens (mentioned in the previous post; recipe still to come); sub-divded and freezer-prepped the meat purchases from this morning; cooked a big batch of spaghetti sauce; and cleaned out the fridge. WHEW! And finally, at the end, made delicious Italian Cheese Bread to go with our spaghetti dinner.
We all love this stuff, and it's SUPER easy to make - also, way cheaper and yummier than the "fast 'n' easy" breads you buy at the store (whether in cans from the dairy case or creepy, gooey loaves from the bread aisle), AND it's made from real food with no chemicals or HFCS.
The recipe is below - it is NOT original; I got it from a wonderful website which is referenced at the end. Sorry, I didn't take a photo tonight and can't seem to find an older one in my iPhoto library. Maybe next time.
Italian Cheese Bread
Ingredients
Bread:
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 TBSP yeast
• 1 cup warm water (120 – 130F)
• 1 TBSP vegetable/canola/olive oil
Topping:
• ¼ cup prepared Italian salad dressing
• 1/8 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp ground oregano
• ¼ tsp dried thyme
• Dash pepper
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese – this can be part shredded cheddar, for a slightly different (and VERY GOOD) effect. Use enough cheese to cover all your dough (a little more than 1 cup if needed).
• Shredded Parmesan cheese – anywhere from 1 TBSP to ¼ cup – sprinkle over the top of the mozzarella (and cheddar, if used) until you have the amount you want.
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast.
3. Add the oil to the 1 cup warm water (NOT TOO HOT or you will kill the yeast); combine this with dry mixture.
4. Add additional flour if needed to form a soft dough - stir it around with a big spoon until it starts to come together.
5. Turn out onto a floured surface; knead for a couple of minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
6. Place dough in a greased bowl, making sure to turn in order to grease the top.
7. Cover the bowl with a light kitchen towel and set it in a warmish place to rise for about 20 minutes.
8. Once the dough has risen, punch down lightly and turn onto a greased cookie sheet – 12 inch round or medium-sized rectangle.
9. Roll and/or pat the dough to fit the pan.
10. Brush with salad dressing.
11. Combine the seasonings and sprinkle over the salad dressing.
12. Sprinkle with cheeses.
13. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
14. Slice (a pizza cutting wheel works great) and serve warm - mmmmmmmmmm!
Very slightly modified from www.tammysrecipes.com/italian_cheese_bread
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