Herbed Potato-Cheese Bread Ingredients:
1 cup plus 1 tbsp milk,
4 1/2 – 5 cup flour,
2 pkg active dry yeast,
1 tbsp sugar,
1 cup mashed potatoes,
1/2 cup butter, softened,
1 tsp salt,
1 lb string cheese or mozzarella,
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves,
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves,
1 lg egg,
1 tsp poppy seeds.
In small saucepan, heat 1 cup milk just until bubbles appear around the side of pan. Remove
from heat; transfer to large bowl and cool to 110-115 degrees. Add 1 cup flour, the yeast and
sugar; stir until completely blended. Set aside 20 minutes – mixture will become foamy and rise. Add 3 cups flour, the potatoes, butter and salt to yeast mixture. With wooden
spoon, stir until a manageable dough is formed. Turn out onto floured surface and
knead dough, adding remaining flour, if necessary, until smooth and elastic, about 12-14
minutes. (Dough should be moist but not sticky.)
Wash, dry and oil mixing bowl. Place
dough in oiled bowl, turning to bring oiled side up. Cover with clean cloth; let dough
rise in warm place until double in size, about 1 hour. On floured surface, roll dough
into 18 inch round. Unravel string cheese and pull thick strands apart to create
thinner strand. (If using mozzarella, cut into 1/4 inch cubes.) Combine cheese with
thyme and rosemary; mound cheese and herb mixture in center of dough round, leaving about a 6 inch border of dough.
Gently pull up edge of dough and bring to center, allowing
dough to fold in a spiral fashion, covering cheese and herb. Pinch ends of dough at
center to close bread and create a “topknot”. Transfer bread to large, greased baking
sheet. Cover with clean cloth and let rise 45 minutes. Heat oven to 350*. In small bowl,
beat together egg and remaining 1 tbsp of milk. Brush top of bread with egg mixture and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake 55-60 minutes, or until golden brown and center is firm. Cool bread 20 minutes on wire rack before cutting. Serve warm. *This reheats well; just wrap in tin foil and heat in oven for 10-20 minutes.
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