Bread, Finally! Garlic, Green Onion and Cheddar....YUM

I always have a hard time making bread....and cooking baked potatoes all of the way through (but that is a story for another time). After lots of trial and error, I came upon a bread recipe that worked - dutch oven bread. Once I got it to work more than once, I started messing with the recipe and came up with this little number. Really good and really easy. Here is the recipe!

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups (440 grams) bread flour, plus more for dusting

• 2 1/4 teaspoons (9 grams) or one packet of instant yeast

• 1 1/2 teaspoons (9 grams) salt

• 1 1/2 (350 grams) cups warm water

• 2 1/2 cups (200 grams) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded and divided (I used a 7 oz pack of cheddar and shredded it)

• 6 green onions coarsely chopped, divided

• 1 bulb of roasted garlic

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• Cornmeal for dusting

Directions

• • • • • Lay a clean kitchen towel on a cookie tray and dust it liberally with cornmeal. Set aside with another towel beside it. You will also need a large Dutch oven or a heavy ceramic pot with a lid.

        • Combine the flour, yeast, and salt together in a bowl. I don't have a stand mixer, but you can definitely use one with a dough hook.

        • Add the warm water and gently mix together until the dough starts to form. This does not take that long, maybe 2-3 minutes of mixing with a wooden spoon.

        • Now add the cheese, onions, and squeeze in the roasted garlic. Reserve just a little of each to put on top of the bread in the final stages of baking it. Mix until it is all well combined.

        • Place the dough on a flat surface dusted with flour. Gently knead into a ball shape. This should take another 2-3 minutes max.

        • Coat another large bowl with the olive oil and place the dough into the center of it.

        • Cover the bowl with a clean towel.

        • Let the dough sit until it doubles in size. This takes about 90 minutes to 2 hours but is pretty temperature dependent.

        • Once it has risen, take the dough out of the bowl and lay on a flat dusted surface. Press the dough into a flat circle and fold the dough over on itself kneading it back into a ball. Again, this takes only a couple of minutes. You do not need to overwork the dough.

        • Now place the dough onto the cornmeal-dusted towel, seam side down for the second rise.

        • Dust the top of the dough with cornmeal and cover it with the towel again.

        • Let the dough rest until it is almost doubled in size.

        • When the dough is about where you want it, place parchment paper into your Dutch oven.

        • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and place the empty pot with its lid into the oven to heat up the Dutch oven.

        • When the oven has reached temperature, take the top towel off the dough, and cut two slits across the top of the dough.

        • Take the Dutch oven out and very carefully drop the dough into the pot on top of the parchment paper. Place the lid on the Dutch oven and place it back into the oven.

        • Bake for 30 minutes.

        • After 30 minutes, take the lid from the pot, and add the reserved cheese, onions, and garlic.

        • Bake for a further 20-30 minutes until the crust is golden and crispy.

        • Take the bread out of the Dutch oven carefully by pulling on the parchment paper.

        •  Place the bread on a cooling rack to let it cool before slicing.

        • Enjoy!