Fondue Bread
This bread is fun for parties or for a meal. The cheese is baked inside the bread dough. You end up with cheese-filled bread, like a self-contained fondue. Pretty cool, right?
The dough is rolled out, and filled with cheese. Then the dough is sealed up, placed in a cake pan, and baked. You can use any cheese that melts. Do be careful to seal the dough well, or you will get cheese leaks when it bakes. Still tasty, but not as pretty.
When I made the bread this time, I had leftover cheese fondue. It was cold, so solid, and I just placed it on the rolled-out dough. Worked well, although it did leak out a little. You can get creative with the filling, adding small amounts of sauteed onions, hot sauce or some herbs, if you like. You can also use more than one type of cheese.
Fondue Bread
1 T. sugar
2 t. salt
2 packages active dry yeast
About 4 c. flour, preferably bread flour
½ c. butter
1 c. milk
2 eggs
1 lb. Muenster cheese, shredded, or use any cheese that you like that will melt.
Combine sugar, salt and yeast with 1 cup of the flour. Heat together butter and milk until very warm (120-130 degrees). Beat milk mixture into flour mixture with an electric mixer and beat 3 minutes. Beat in 1 cup flour and mix 2 minutes longer. With spoon, start to stir in enough flour to make a soft dough. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour until dough is smooth and elastic. Kneading will take about 10 minutes. Shape dough into a ball, cover with bowl and let rest 15 minutes. Meanwhile, reserve 1 egg white and combine remaining eggs with the cheese. Grease 9-inch round cake pan.
On lightly floured surface with a rolling pin roll dough into a rectangle about 24”x6”. Shape cheese into a tube lengthwise along the center of the dough. Fold sides of dough over cheese making about a 1½- inch overlap. Pinch seams to seal. Place roll, seam side down, in prepared pan to form a ring. Ends should overlap. Pinch ends together. Cover with a towel and let rest 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush top of ring with reserved egg white and bake about 1 hour. Loaf will be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Remove from pan right away and let stand 15 minutes for easier cutting. Makes 1 large loaf.
To serve, cut into wedges. Makes 8 main dish or 16 appetizer servings.
To reheat, wrap bread in foil and heat in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes or until bread has warmed and cheese is melted.
