Cheddar-Jalapeno Bread with a Quinoa Twist

I've been thinking about making this bread for a few days now. Now that I understand the process and the necessary ingredients and how they work, you can expect a lot of bread on this website!!



This is totally my own recipe. I kinda went into it blindly, and hoped it would work. And boy did it work! I'm eating a slice as I type this and I can't believe how good it turned out. I actually got the idea from a bakery I used to work at in Lake Louise, we used to get cheddar and jalapeno bagels. I looooved them! With cream cheese, wow. And jam? Even better. Or both...And of course just by itself, toasted with butter. This bread doesn't taste the same of course(bread and bagels are totally different in texture!). I put some quinoa in it and that comes out really subtle but obvious when you know it's there. The jalapeno is not too spicy at all, I only put in one just to be safe, but when I make this bread again I'll use 2. The cheddar taste also is veeeeery subtle. I used mild marble cheddar so next time I'll get a stronger cheese. But trust me, it's awesome like this too! The texture is very soft, the oil in the cheese did it's job!!



So here's the "formula":

4 cups bread flour(3 white, 1 whole wheat)
1/2 cup quinoa flakes(available at health food stores)
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 TBSP canola oil
1 1/2 cups warm water, at 120F
1 cup cheddar cheese(*little trick: toss in about a teaspoon of flour in the cheese so it doesn't clump together...)
1 jalapeno, finely chopped.

Mix the flour, quinoa, yeast salt and sugar in a big bowl.
Heat up the water at 120F, add oil and pour in the flour mixture while stirring with a fork. If it seems too dry add more water, if it's too wet add flour. When it starts to form a ball transfer to a floured surface and knead until it starts getting smooth. Add the cheese and the jalapeno, and knead more until it's all incorporated. When it's nice and smooth with the consistency of an earlobe put the dough ball in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double. This one only took 45 minutes.
*A good way to speed things up: turn on the oven and put the bowl on it. My stove top gets kinda hot, that helps the rising process!

When it's risen enough punch it down gently, turn into a floured work surface and knead again for no more than a minute and very gently, all the while shaping it into a short and thinck kinda log. Now you can either put it on an oiled baking sheet and bake it as a rustic-looking loaf, or do the pan thing, like I did. In an oil-sprayed 9x5 loaf pan. Loosely cover with plastic and let rise again until doubled, it took this one 30 minutes(again, on the hot stove top...). Before sending it to the oven brush with eggwhite or milk, or butter, or nothing...I did eggwhites. It's just a fantasy, really, not essential. It changes the look and texture of the crust.
Bake it at 375 for 30-35 minutes, when it's done it'll sound hollow when tapped and thermometer will read 180F. Let it cool on a rack.
As you can see my pretty baby here got really big!(and lopsided because my floors are not quite even...)



Sandwiches this week are gonna rock!

I will submit this to yeastspotting for next week!