Ingredients

• 500g Strong White Bread Flour
• 300ML Lukewarm Water
• 7g Active Easy Bake Yeast
• 1 TBSP Butter
• 1 TSP Salt
• 4 Rashers Bacon Cooked and Diced
• 2 TBSP Grated Parmesan

Preparation Time – 2 Hours

Cooking Time – 30 Minutes

30 ‘Til 30 Recipe 19

Baking bread is one of my favourite things to do, granted it takes a while with the proving, but there is no bread better than a homemade loaf (and who doesn’t love the smell of freshly baked bread filling the house).

I have not really experimented with a lot of bread flavours though, usually I either stick to the usual white bread or cinnamon raisin bread. However when I was making my meal prep list for this week and decided to put baked potato soup on it, I knew I needed something a little bit extra than normal white bread and what makes everything better? Bacon and cheese. I decided to use parmesan in this loaf because it is a very finely grated cheese with a strong flavour (not to mention I had some leftover and no idea what to do with it). You can never go wrong with bacon amd cheese. I kept to and easy white bread recipe and then after proving, I added the bacon and cheese.

In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, yeast, salt and butter. Make sure to add the yeast and salt to opposite sides of the bowl as the salt can kill the yeast.

Mix the yeast in with the flour on one side and the salt in with the flour on the other and then mix all of the dry ingredients into the butter until it becomes like a breadcrumbs consistency.

Make a well in the middle of the mix and pour 2/3 of the water into the well.

With a blunt knife mix the water into the flour mix to create a dough, when the majority of this is mixed together, add the rest of the water and mix it in.

When the flour and water are completely mixed together, tip out the dough onto a lightly floured surface.

Knead the dough back and forth for about 5-10 minutes until it forms an elastic consistancy.

Form dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl and cover with a damp tea towel or cling film.

Leave to prove for an hour or until doubled in size.

When doubled, tip out onto a lightly floured surface. Knock back the dough to get all of the air out.

Tip the bacon and cheese onto the dough and knead the bacon and cheese into the dough.

Form the dough into a ball and place on a baking tray and cover loosely with a towel or cling film.

Leave for another hour or until doubled in size again.

Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked all the way through. You can check this by inserting a sharp knife or skewer into the bread and if it comes out clean it is done.

 

Leave to cool and then slice and serve.