Recipe 34: Cheddar and Bacon Loaves

Okay, so this weekend I have managed to bake 5 different breads which is good as I was running behind as I didn't do any last weekend and I can't do any Bank Holiday weekend either – kinda good to catch up and do as many as I could!

Cheddar and Bacon Loaves, another one I was very excited to bake! They are both favours that a lot of people like and go well together so I had a lot of people wanting to try this one too!

It started with the usual mixing of the ingredients with my hands, still love this bit! Then going onto kneading, which isn't too much of a problem now really! I still worry that I've never done it good enough but it's getting much more easier on my arms, maybe I have some muscle there at last!

Then I left it to rise, I think it was around 2 hours so in the meantime I cooked 8 rashes of bacon until they were tender, not cooked properly as it will go in the oven too - then of course chop roughly. I also grated all the cheese ready.

So because I didn't leave the dough as long as usual (recently) it doesn't look as big but as long as its doubled in size, it shouldn't be a problem! Nice and airy still!

Once you pour the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, time to knead the cheese and bacon, this kinda knocks the air out at the same time. So I kneaded for a little while until the ingredients were well distributed. This was fun!

Then cut into four equal pieces and shape into an oval shape. One of them obviously one was not as equal as the others as you can tell from the pictures! Then once shaped, place them on the tray and slash them deeply and a dust of flour and leave them to prove.

 I left them to prove for ages, perhaps for too long I think. I had to go out and get shoes for a wedding (I did get some, yay) and this ended up effecting some of the other breads too unfortunately.

I had to wait a little while longer for the oven to become free and then baked for 20 minutes as soon as available!

The picture above makes the dough look soggy but it really isn't, just where the cheese has melted in! 

Reviews? It went down a treat! They were nice, I'm not a fan of cheese but even I enjoyed them. Alice had one for her dinner pretty much and everyone else that had one seemed to really like them! I think I will be doing these again!