Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 3–3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 Tbsp. dry yeast
- 1–1/2 tsp. freshly ground sea salt
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1/4 tsp. freshly-cracked black pepper
- 1–1/4 cups whole milk
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1–1/2 cups shredded Asiago cheese
- 1 jumbo egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup shredded Asiago cheese (to top the bread)
Instructions
- Use a stand-up mixer.
- In a stand-up mixer, using the ‘paddle attachment’ combine 1-½ cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and pepper.
- Put the milk and butter in a microwave-safe bowl and heat the mixture until the butter begins to melt and is at a temperature between 120 to 130 degrees which will be warm enough to activate the yeast. Do not go over that temperature or the heat will kill the yeast.
- On low-speed of the stand-up mixer, slowly add the warm milk and melted butter until smooth.
- Add the 1-½ cups of shredded Asiago cheese and mix only until combined; don’t over mix.
- Slowly add in 2-¼ cups of flour to make a soft dough.
- Switch to the “dough hook” and knead for 5 minutes.
- Spray a large mixing bowl with cooking spray and place the dough in the bowl,
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until doubled for 2 – 3 hours.
- Once the dough is doubled, punch it down with your fingers just a few times, divide the dough in half.
- Spray two baking sheets with cooking spray and place the dough (divided) on the baking sheets.
- Form into oval or round loaves.
- Loosely cover each bread dough with plastic wrap (you might also want to spray some cooking spray on the plastic wrap).
- Let the dough rise again to double in size, for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- With a serrated knife, make shallow cuts across the top of the dough.
- Brush the beaten egg on top of the bread dough, try to use it all.
- Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle the ¼ cup of shredded Asiago cheese on top.
- Bake again for 5 minutes.
- If your bread has been darkening during baking, switch the bread loaves on different racks so that they bake evenly.
- The bread should be a light, golden brown.