I’ve been making bread for a long time, and I would venture a guess that I have tried at least 100 recipes. When the girls were little, I often made different kinds of bread every week – so you know they had the chance to try a lot of different flavors. But, when I gave them the choice of what kind I should make, which bread did they always ask for? Cottage Cheese Dill Bread. And I didn’t mind, because this is one of my favorites as well. It is light in texture, but still hearty enough for sandwiches, and the combo of dill, plus just a hint of onion is just amazing. The only reason I don’t make it more often is because I find it so utterly irresistible that it’s embarrassing. I have zero self control when it comes to this stuff.
As I have with many of my favorite bread recipes, I’ve turned this into a no-knead stand mixer only recipe – the only kneading is just to shape it. The mixer does the rest, while you stand back and dabble in bits of flour every minute or so, until it turns into a silky ball of perfect dough. If you don’t have a stand mixer, or you just like to make it old school, use a large bowl and a wooden spoon for mixing.
- 2 packages dry active yeast
- ½ cup very warm water
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups Cottage Cheese
- 2 tablespoons very finely minced onion
- 2 tablespoons dried dill weed [not dill seed]
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 5 to 5 ½ cups all purpose flour.
- Place the yeast, warm water and sugar in the bowl of the mixer – stir with a small spoon, just to moisten all of the yeast. Let sit for about 10 minutes – the mixture will foam up.
- Use the paddle attachment and add the cottage cheese, onion, dill weed and salt. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
- Switch to the dough hook, and mix in 3 cups of the flour, which you can add all at once, but keep the speed very slow at first – leave the mixer running about 2 minutes. Add another cup of flour, mix until completely incorporated. Repeat with a 4th cup of flour.
- Leave the mixer running, and add additional flour, ¼ cup at a time, mixing until each addition is completely incorporated. This may take anywhere from ¼ of a cup to a whole cup. When the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, and gathers around the hook, you are getting close. Keep mixing for about a minute and turn the mixer off. Test the dough by poking it with a finger – it should not stick readily. If it still sticks, add another ¼ cup, and when that is all mixed in, test again.
- Once it is not sticky, knead on a medium speed for 5 minutes. {if you are doing this by hand, here is where you would start kneading it on a floured surface.} Flour the counter, and empty the bowl on the flour. Use a bench scraper or well floured hands to gather it into a ball, and knead it a few turns just to get it into a nice ball.
- Place in an oiled bowl and cover with a piece of oiled plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until it is well doubled in size. Punch down, and shape into two loaves. Place in well buttered 8 x 5 inch bread pans, and re-cover with the oiled plastic wrap. Let rise again, just until centers of loaves are above the edge of the pans – this is going to rise quite a bit more in the oven, so don’t let it get too high before you bake it.
- Brush the tops with buttermilk [which imparts a beautiful shiny top] or milk, and place in a preheated 350º oven. Bake for about 35 minutes. The top should be very well browned, and it should sound hollow when the bottom is tapped. The best way to be sure yeast bread is done is to test the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer – it should be 200º.
Remove from pans and cool on a rack. Store tightly wrapped
This makes particularly good toast [though I always say that – I love my toast!], or maybe you might like to try a toasted cheddar and Bread and Butter Pickle sandwich?
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