Now with jalapeño!
Well, I added some reconstituted dried jalapeño to the dough; I seriously doubt the nice folk at Fleischmann’s Yeast would’ve thought that a selling point when they first offered this recipe in 1962.
Nice touch, tho’.
Irregardless, I came across this recipe while surfing some vintage advertising and food sites, thought it should be tried, and that I was just the guy to try it.
And you know what?
It’s not too, too bad!
I had a slice or two this morning with my coffee and thought it quite nice with a schmear of cream cheese.
The recipe was simplicity itself, the only real issue being ‘how the heck do I scald milk?’.
Well, all praise da Google, I now know.
INGREDIENTS
•1 cup milk
•3 tbsp sugar
•1 tbsp salt
•1 tbsp butter
•Optional: 2 tsp reconstituted jalapeño
•4-1/2 tsp yeast
•1 cup warm water
•1 cup grated cheddar cheese
•4-1/2 cups flour
Scald the milk by heating on low just until a skin forms on the surface. Stir in the salt, sugar, butter and jalapeño, if using, and set aside to cool to luke warm.
Stir the yeast into 1 cup of very warm (about 110º) water and let sit for five minutes until dissolved and a bit foamy.
Add the scalded milk, the cheese, and the flour and blend well. I did this with my stand mixer, but was a little bit stoopid – I used the paddle instead of the dough hook.
Pat the dough into a ball, cover, and let sit in a warm spot for forty-five minutes – or until it has doubled in volume.
Heat your oven to 375º.
Stir down the risen dough and beat for thirty seconds.
Turn into a well-buttered 1-1/2 quart casserole or two 9×5 loaf pans – I also flipped mine so the butter was well spread around on the surface of the dough.
The recipe said to bake for an hour. I did mine for forty-five minutes, and the top was beginning to get a touch over brown – tho’ that could’ve been my butter flip.
Once done, pop out of the baking pan and allow to cool.
Serve as you will – lightly toasted, this made for quite nice BLTs one evening, and, seeing as how this is a fairly dense loaf, it would more than likely be an interesting base for French toast.
Coulda used a bit more jalapeño, tho’.