Pepperoni Bread

Last night, I made my first attempt at Peter Reinhart's Soft Cheese & Pepperoni Bread that I found on Brown Eyed Baker's blog!

First, let me start off by telling you what NOT to do when you attempt to make this bread.
*Don't decide you are going to halve the recipe to test it out, then accidentally add the full amount of 1/2 the ingredients and only 1/2 of the other 1/2 of the ingredients....it doesn't end well...

Here is the original list of ingredients (makes 4 small loaves or 2 big loaves)

6¼ cups unbleached bread flour
2 teaspoons salt, or 1 Tablespoon coarse kosher salt
5 Tablespoons granulated or brown sugar, or 3½ Tablespoons honey or agave nectar (I used white sugar)
1 cup lukewarm water or beer, about 95°F or 35°C (I used warm water)

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons lukewarm buttermilk or any other milk, about 95°F or 35°C (I used skim milk with a splash of vinegar)

1½ Tablespoons instant yeast (I used active dry yeast)
¼ cup melted unsalted butter or vegetable oil (I used vegetable oil)
1¾ cups diced onion, optional (I left this out)

2½ cups  grated, shredded, or cubed cheese (I used mozzarella)

Here's what to do:

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together. In a separate bowl, combine the water and the milk. Add the yeast and stir until dissolved. (If you use honey instead of sugar, dissolve the honey in the warm water).  Add the wet to the dry ingredients, along with the oil or butter.  Mix on low for 2 minutes, then let rest for 5 minutes.
*This is where I made my first mistake. I halved the dry ingredients and the yeast, but forgot to halve the wet ingredients…after mixing for a while, I realized my mistake- when it looked nothing at all like dough- and I quickly added the rest of the dry ingredients and yeast and hoped for the best!**
 

 Mix for 3 minutes adding extra flour if needed to get the right consistency for the dough, then form into a dough ball. Put the dough in an oil bowl and let rest for 60-90 minutes, or until doubled in size. (You can also refrigerate the dough for up to 4 days, just take it out of the fridge 2 hours before baking).

 

Divide the dough into two or four sections. Use your hands or a rolling pin to make an 8x12 rectangle. Sprinkle with cheese, top with pepperoni if desired, then roll up. Seal the seam and put in a loaf pan. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. (I ran out of pepperoni so I made one loaf with just cheese)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, poke the top of the loaf with a toothpick several times and bake for 45 minutes, rotating half way through.
 

The silicone pan allowed for a little cheese explosion out the one side!

 The result? Not bad. Mine did not turn out quite like Brown Eyed Baker's pictures...not quite as light and airy...but that might be due to my, uh, miscalculations early on. It still tastes good though! I might give it another try, add more pepperoni and see what happens. I'd also make 4 smaller loaves next time!


Tonight's Christmas card- complete with matching holly jumpers!:

**Don't forget to enter my first giveaway  for a chance to win!**

Enjoy!
--Lindsay--