Gardener's Treat Bread

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 4 -4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast or 1 1/4 ounces active dry yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, cut into 1/8 in. cubes (or other aged cheese such as asiago)
• 1 egg , mixed with
• 1 teaspoon water
• green onions (one, some, or all) or leeks (one, some, or all) or chives (one, some, or all) or parsley (one, some, or all)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Recipe

• 1 in a large mixing bowl stir together 2 cups of the flour and the yeast; set aside.
• 2 in a medium saucepan heat and stir milk, sugar, butter, and salt until just warm (not over 120 degrees), butter should just melt. add milk mixture to dry mixture along with the 2 eggs.
• 3 beat by hand using a wooden spoon until a loose elastic dough forms.
• 4 add 2 t. herbs of your choosing and cheese, stir to incorporate.
• 5 add as much of the remaining flour as possible, then turn out onto floured counter and knead until dough is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes).
• 6 return dough to the large mixing bowl, drizzle with a little olive oil and cover.
• 7 let rise till double (about an hour).
• 8 punch down and turn dough out to floured counter and divide into 3 pieces.
• 9 lightly grease a 12x18 sheet pan (or use a silpat or parchment paper) and shape each piece of dough into a 10x4 loaf.
• 10 place on sheet pan leaving ample room between loaves.
• 11 in a small bowl beat egg and water and brush onto loaves.
• 12 gently press herbs onto loaves (whole parsley leaves and long chives are beautiful), alternatively sprinkle loaves with chopped herbs like i do because i am lazy. :).
• 13 gently brush herbs with olive oil to keep them from drying out (this isn't necessary if using chopped herbs).
• 14 cover and let rise until nearly double in size (about 45 minutes).
• 15 bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes, loosely covering with foil for the last 5 or 10 minutes if tops are browning too much.