Durum Sourdough English Muffin Bread with Cheese

My wife is not a big fan of my multi-grain breads and I’m always getting on her for not trying more of my breads.  For this reason I agreed to make her an English Muffin bread, which was simple and plain.  Well you know by now if you follow my posts that I don’t know the meaning of the word simple so here is as close as I could bring myself to make a simple English Muffin style bread.

I used a similar recipe that I have used for my last batch of English Muffin and baked it in a loaf pan and the results were better than I expected.  It tastes like an English Muffin but you can taste the Durum flour I used in the starter and a hint of the cheese I added in.  I used a blueberry cheddar cheese to make it interesting but in hindsight I should have added more than I did to really get the flavor.

The bread came out with a nice English Muffin open crumb and makes great toast.

English Muffin Bread Main Dough

165 grams Durum Starter (you can use your regular Sourdough starter at 65% hydration instead if desired.  I had this left over from one of my previous bakes)

620 grams European Style Flour (KAF or use Bread Flour with a little Whole Wheat)

300 grams Greek Plain Yogurt (I used Fage 2%)

235 grams Water (85-90 degrees F.)

50 grams Cheese (I used grated Blueberry Cheddar.  Add in final mix)

26 grams Sugar

10 grams Salt

12 grams Baking Soda

Semolina or Cornmeal for Dusting

Directions

Mix flour, starter, water and yogurt in your mixing bowl and mix for 1-2 minutes to combine.  (Note: in my English Muffin recipe I did not add the water until the second day, but I forgot and mixed it up first and it didn’t seem to hurt anything).

Cover the bowl and let it sit out at room temperature overnight or for at least 9-10 hours.

The next morning add the rest of the ingredients and mix for a minute.  Knead the dough either with your mixer or by hand for around 4 minutes, adding additional flour if necessary.  Next place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and let it rest covered for 1 hour at room temperature about 70 degrees F.  After the rest form it into a loaf shape and place it in a greased bread pan and let it rise covered with a moist towel or greased plastic wrap for another hour until the dough rises about even with the top of your baking pan which in my case was about a 50% rise.  This bread will get a huge lift in the oven so don’t worry if it doesn’t rise too much while resting.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. and when ready to bake add your steam per your normal method and bake for around 45 minutes to an hour until the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.

Let the bread rest on a rack for about 2 hours and then enjoy!

This bread has been submitted to Yeast Spotting here at http://www.wildyeastblog.com/

I don’t know who’s more excited about my KAF order…me or Mookie!