Cheddar Serrano Bread

By Texaschef11

Ingredients

• 2½ tsp. yeast
• 1 c. lukewarm water
• ½ tsp. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2½ c. bread flour
• 1¼ c. ap flour (or finely ground corn flour for something a little different) + extra for bench
• big pinch of sea salt
• 4 serrano chiles, stemmed, seeded & finely diced
• 6 oz. shredded EXTRA sharp cheddar cheese

Preparation

Step 1

Dissolve yeast in large bowl with water and sugar. Stir and let sit 10 minutes, or until bloomed & creamy.

Mix in eggs and oil. Toss cheese and serranos with flours and salt. Mix all into wet ingredients with wooden spoon. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, ~10-15 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and cover w/ plastic or a slightly damp towel. Let rise until doubled in size, ~2 hours. Punch down.
Turn dough out and divide in half. Form into two loaves on a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal. Alternately, grease two loaf pans and place the dough in them. Drape with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until doubled in size, ~90 mins. Preheat oven to 425° F during last 30 minutes of rise time, with a stone placed on center rack if using free-form loaves.

Slash the tops if you'd like and dust with a bit of extra flour or corn flour, then transfer to oven and bake for ~30 minutes or until golden and cooked through.