Let Them Eat Bread

Fly Lady says some people are born organized. I'm one of the others. I have to write down a schedule on a piece of paper in order to be organized. But then I lose the piece of paper.

Recently I got all ambitious in the kitchen and decided to try three new recipes for dinner. Familiar recipes are no problem because I know about how long they'll take, but a new recipe can be loaded with pitfalls for the unwary. Phrases like "let the batter rest in the refrigerator overnight" or "let the dough rise again for 2 hours" play merry havoc with my attempts to get a meal to the table before bedtime. To attempt three new recipes for the same meal was just foolhardy.

The first one to come out of the oven was dessert. Well, that fits in well with my life motto - "Eat dessert first. Life's uncertain." That will probably go on my tombstone.

Next into the oven was the bread. While it was baking I turned to the "easiest" of the recipes, meatloaf. It was a recipe my daughter had brought home from her church group, raving about, and saying I needed to make it. It involved mixing up a lot of meat (3 lbs), patting it a jelly roll pan, then layering on basil leaves, proscuitto, cheese, and then rolling the whole thing up like a jelly roll. Easy enough at first glance, but the part I didn't read was the cook time. It took forever to cook. By the time it got to the oven we were already gnawing at our sleeves with hunger.

Then there was the bread I'd just pulled out of the oven. The wonderful aroma of fresh warm bread, mixed with the tang of the oozy, melted gruyere cheese was irresistible. We had glasses of wine with bread for dinner. By the time the meatloaf was done cooking we were so stuffed with fluffy slices of cheesy bread we had no room left for the meatloaf. All 4 lbs of the meatlog went into the refrigerator. But I'm not complaining. The bread made a fabulous dinner. And there was dessert.

Cheesy French Braid
adapted from Betty Crocker's International Cookbook

1 package active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 deg. F)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter, softened
3-1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
6 oz Swiss or Gruyere cheese, diced (about 1-1/2 cups)
Vegetable oil
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp water

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in sugar, salt, eggs, butter, and 2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled, 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready if an indentation remains when you poke it.

Punch down dough. Turn dough onto counter, gently spreading into square. Sprinkle the cheese over the dough and knead it in until it's well distributed. Divide into 3 equal parts. Roll each part into a rope, 15 inches long. Place the ropes together on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Braid the ropes gently and loosely, being careful not to stretch. Pinch the ends together on each end; tuck under securely. Brush lightly with oil. Let rise until doubled, 40 to 50 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 deg. F and position oven rack below center of oven. Beat egg yolk and 2 Tbsp water slightly; brush over braid. Place in oven and bake until braid sounds hollow when tapped, 25 to 30 minutes. (If braid is browning too quickly, cover loosely with a tent of aluminum foil.)