Hasselback Garlic Cheesy Bread

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

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 envelope)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups bread flour
• olive oil, for greasing surfaces
• 1/3 lb sharp cheddar cheese (or any other cheese you prefer)
• 1/2 cup garlic butter

Recipe

• 1 in a large bowl, stir water, honey and yeast together. let yeast proof 5 minutes. once you know yeast is active, stir in salt and the flour in 1/4 cup increments. if you are using a stand mixer, be sure to not increase your speed higher than a 2 or ‘stir’. once dough starts pulling away from the sides and the bowl seems to be pretty clean, set a timer for 5 minutes and walk away. let the machine knead the dough. after 5 minutes, dough should be smooth and tacky but when touched shouldn’t leave any dough on your fingers.
• 2 grease the bowl and the dough. cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
• 3 punch down dough and cut into two equal portions. form into two long baguettes the length of the cookie sheet. i like to twist mine because it looks cool, but it also keeps its length and doesn’t shrink. cover with plastic wrap and rise 30 minutes. start to preheat oven to 400 degrees f and place dough close to the oven where it’s nice and warm. once oven is preheated, remove plastic wrap, from the dough reduce oven to 350f, put the bread into the oven and bake 20 minutes.
• 4 in the meantime, slice the cheese into thin slices and melt the butter.
• 5 pull loaves of bread out of the oven after 20 minutes and brush with the melted garlic butter. bake another 5-7 minutes or until bread begins to turn a golden brown. remove from oven and cool 15 minutes.
• 6 cut 1-inch slices 3/4′s of the the way through the loaves. brush garlic butter in between each slice and fill with a slice of cheese. bake another 3-5 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.
• 7 serve immediately.