Cheesy French Bread Slices

This has been a cold, clear, beautiful day in South Georgia and a good time to have a hot bowl of vegetable soup and hot bread.  I had been reading recipes about pull apart cheese breads but didn't want to buy bread for I had just purchased a loaf of french bread.  Thinking about how I could modify the recipe, I tried this method and it is very good a and I hope you enjoy it too.

CHEESY FRENCH BREAD SLICES

• 12 slices (enough to fill a loaf pan) french bread
• 12 slices of cheddar cheese ( I sliced my own using a mandolin)
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup melted butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line loaf pan with aluminum foil with several long enough to cover loaf after taking it out of the oven.

Place the bread in the foil lining the loaf pan and place a cheese slice between the slices of bread.

Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese between the slices.

Generously brush the top of the loaf with melted butter and sprinkle with some of the mozzarella cheese. 

Bake in preheated oven until toasted on the top and cheese has melted - about 20 min.

Remove from pan using the foil to lift and serve immediately, while hot.

Ready for the oven

Hot and ready to serve

 Nice addition with a hot bowl of soup

Additions or substitutes - fresh Parmesan, sprinkle with parsley or Italian seasoning after brushing with butter.  

I hope you enjoy this bread as much as we did and let me know how you liked it.

The Georgia Peach

Sour Dough Herb Bread

Bread pictures courtesy ofhttp://www.krusteaz.com/brands/krusteaz/bread_machine_mixes/

Good evening and ya'll come on in for a visit. I would complain about the weather but a friend who reads my blog said I had sung that song enough and just get over it. Soooo, I will just say it is a typical winter afternoon and I am going to start a fire in the fireplace soon.

As you can tell from the pictures above I am going to talk about bread. When we were growing up, we never had a meal without a hot bread of some type which our mama had made. For breakfast we would have toast most of the time but other than that it was home made. Mostly we had her delicious cornbread and biscuits but she could whip a bunch of homemade rolls in a jiffy. Sometimes she would make homemade bread in a loaf but mostly it was her good cloverleaf rolls which we had when there was company or a special occasion.

We would even eat cold cornbread or biscuits for snacks. Taking the cold biscuit, sticking your finger through the side to make a pocket and then pour syrup in it and a better snack is hard to find. Syrup and cornbread is good also especially if it is hot and you put lots of butter on the bread before you pour the syrup. There is not much of anything better than good homemade biscuits and cornbread.

Mama taught me how to make cornbread for my first bread lesson but she and "Miss Leacy", my home ec teacher, taught me how to make all types of bread - cornbread, biscuits, and rolls. As we established our own family, I continued to make hot breads for every meal and Roy went from 175 lbs. to 220 in less than a year.

As our family has dwindled to 2 I have had to learn to cook less which is difficult but I am learning and we also freeze a lot. Most of my bread recipes make 2 loaves so I had not made any for a long time until I found a whole box of several bread machine mixes in the pantry. I gave my bread machine away but after looking at the instructions, I found there are instructions for using a regular oven and everything is already measured and it makes one loaf. The yeast was out of date but all you have to do is buy some dry, fresh yeast and use that.

I also use my mixer and the dough hooks so it is really easy and you can add ingredients to the mixes to make new recipes. The one I am making today is sourdough with Italian herbs so I thought I would share it with you. It really is easy for the dough hooks do most of the kneading for you but I like to knead bread - works out a lot of frustrations. Try this and let me know what you think.

Sourdough Italian Bread

1 pkg. sourdough bread machine mix
2 tsp. Italian herbs or Herbs de Provence
1 cup warm water
1 pkg. yeast

In large mixer bowl put 1/2 bread mix, yeast and herbs. Mix until herbs and yeast are mixed with the four mixture. Add 1 cup warm water and mix well using the dough hooks and then add the rest of the mix about 1/2 cup at the time. Mix well and then knead until the dough makes a ball. You can take the dough out of bowl when mixed, place on floured surface and knead until smooth.

Place the ball of dough in a bowl which has been oiled with olive oil, turn the dough until coated on all sides, cover with clean cloth, place in a warm spot until it has doubled in size. Punch the dough down with your fist, remove from bowl, shape into a loaf and place in oiled loaf pan OR shape into a round loaf and place on oiled baking sheet. Brush the top with olive oil, cover with clean cloth, place in warm spot and let rise until doubled in size. Place in preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 - 25 minutes. When done, it will be brown on top. Remove from oven, remove from pan and let cool on rack. I like to slice it and eat with olive oil and additional Italian herbs on top.

For a cheesy bread, when shaping the loaf, with rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle on a floured surface, sprinkle with shaved or grated Parmesan cheese, roll, seal the edges and place in loaf pan oiled with olive oil.

You can use any type of cheese you like but I really like the fresh, shaved Parmesan but just use your imagination and have fun. The bread mix makes it really easy and there are several brands of machine mixes you can use. I have used the ones from King Arthur, but choose what is available. I have added dried cranberries to the Hawaiian mix, and cinnamon and raisins to the sweet bread mix. Let your imagination go and what can happen but it won't taste good but after all it is just a loaf of bread.

I hope you will try some of these and let me know what you think.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

High Chair and Bread

Noah

Taylor

Good evening. Ya'll come on in the house for it is cold and getting colder. Now let me tell you, I am not happy. We live in South Georgia for a reason - it is hot and doesn't get too cold. The weather person is now saying we are going to get SNOW tomorrow. This is not good!

We have been in snow in Plymouth, NC and Columbus MS, and an ice storm in New Bern, NC many years ago. So I can truthfully say I have been there and done that and I didn't like it then and don't want it now. It is cold, slippery, slidey and dangerous and I can't drive in it which causes me great anguish. I have gone through a traffic light sideways down a hill, slid down our driveway, tried to keep the car between the ditches and froze my ya ya off so don't want it.

You see I have a haircut appointment, grocery shopping and a visit to Goodwill planned for tomorrow and it is 30 miles away. If I don't get to get my hair cut and do my shopping it will be a sad day for me and a frustrating one. Our Noah is coming next weekend and we don't have a high chair or booster seat so he can sit at the table. He will only be an occasional visitor so I see no sense in buying a new one, do you? Hence the visit to Goodwill.

The picture above is Noah sitting in his grandmother's high chair. He is the 4th generation of children to eat in this chair, off this tray. Isn't he a fortunate little man? It has been used by numerous Polk offspring and is still in wonderful condition. The tray cracked years ago but it was carefully glued back together and is as good as new, almost.

Our other little beauty enjoying spaghetti in the antique high chair is Taylor, our great-niece. She not only likes to put it in the body but on the body also. As you can tell, sitting in this chair where her mama and granddaddy sat is a wonderful experience and the good food helps immensely.

I guess instead of a high chair or booster seat we could do like our grandmother Polk would do when we visited them. We ate a long table with a bench on each side which seated about 6 people. She would get a syrup bucket for us to sit on or as we grew larger we progressed to a Sears Roebuck catalog. This was fine for us as long as we could reach the table and eat her good fried pork chops, great, big biscuits and cured bacon and ham. They had a smoke house and smoked their pork which they had raised, killed, cleaned and smoked. It was good stuff and those buckets or catalogs worked just fine.

Speaking of eating, I found this recipe below on a wonderful blog site -http://wiseanticsoflife.blogspot.com/2010/02/raisin-nut-quick-bread-recipes-from.html

I made it today and look forward to toasting slices of it tomorrow. Now I did have to add my touch so I added lemon zest and fresh, squeezed lemon juice. This gave it just a little kick and it is very good. I also plan to use dried cranberries or blueberries in loaves and I think some chopped nuts will make it really special.
Try it and let me know what you think. Just click on the little "Comment" box at the bottom of the posting and send me a note.

Raisin Quick Bread

1 egg
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. Lemon zest
1 cup raisins

Wash raisins and drain. Beat egg, add milk, and mix together. Combine with flour sifted with baking powder,sugar,and salt. Add raisins and lemon juice and beat thoroughly. Spread in a greased, paper-lined bread pan. Bake 1 1/2 hours at 300 degrees. Remove from oven, place on cooling rack for about 10 minutes and remove from pan. I used parchment paper to line it with and left about 1/2 inch of paper on each end and used that to remove the loaf. Works well and bread won't break apart.

This is a dense bread but not heavy and will be fantastic toasted and buttered for breakfast. You know adding a little cinnamon would be good also. I keep thinking of possibilities such as orange zest and orange juice rather than lemon and mixed dried fruit to make a fruit bread. It should freeze well and will make great presents.

Well, I have bent your ears enough for today so will say good night, don't let the bed bugs bite and sweet dreams. Ya'll back to see me.

Nuff said.

The Georgia Peach
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