Deenuts Dana: G's Spot: Garlic and Cheese Bread

How exciting! Our first recipe here on Deenuts Dana's G's Spot. Hey, that sounds, er, interesting. Full disclosure: Greg is working today and wasn't able to provide a first recipe. So, you've got Dana. I'm actually not that bad of a cook. It's just that when you live with a professional one, your cooking tends to get overshadowed. So, I thought I would start up this section of the site with a recipe that serves two purposes: 1) it was one of my mother's favorite foods, and 2) it's made in a machine and is practically impossible to mess up! So, without further adieu, please allow me to introduce one of my favorite bread recipes.

Garlic and Cheese Bread

1 1/4 cups tepid water

3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

2 tablespoons powdered cheese (from a mac 'n cheese box)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

I know, you're probably thinking where's the garlic? Just be patient, kittens.

When I first got my bread machine, I went online searching for recipes. I found this one, although I've changed it up a bit, but I didn't make it for a few weeks, due to the powdered cheese ingredient. I really didn't want to give up a box of mac 'n cheese just so I could use the powdered cheese in my bread recipe. Until one night I opened up a box and found TWO CHEESE PACKETS. It was like the people at Kraft wanted me to make this bread. And so I did. And now, after having it, I will gladly sacrifice a perfectly fine box of macaroni and cheese so that I can make Garlic and Cheese Bread.

I'll start with addressing the elephant in the room, before the elephant, has, uh, actually entered. The lighting in my kitchen is less than desirable for taking photos of food. Since I was working alone with this recipe, I couldn't take the most ideal photos while also cooking the food. I'm going to consult with my photography experts (and by experts I mean two friends who take really nice pictures) and hopefully I'll be able to improve the picture quality. If the experts tell me that I must completely renovate my kitchen and get a whole new one, so be it! In the name of this website, I must do it.

First, let me show you the bread flour that I've been using since I started making bread in a machine. My grocery store didn't carry bread flour, so I ordered several pounds of this online.

Also, I made my own concoction of Italian seasonings, which included garlic powder. The pre-mixed Italian seasoning does not contain garlic powder, therefore if you use the pre-mixed Italian seasoning, use 1 1/2 teaspoons of that and then add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder to the recipe. Here are the usual suspects. I used 1/2 teaspoon of each.

Mise en place

Allow me to introduce you to my bread machine. I have an Oster. It wasn't too expensive, and it's not too fancy. And it makes bread. That's all I need.

When using dry active yeast, it's important that the yeast not touch the wet ingredients until the mixing begins. So, pour the water in, and then follow with all of the dry ingredients.

Flour