BAKING PANS

1 round 8" cake pan or 4 miniature bread pans, greased or Teflon

BY HAND OR MIXER

15 mins.

In a mixing or mixer bowl measure 2 cups flour and add the yeast and salt. Pour in the hot milk. Blend well with 50 strokes of a wooden spoon or for 2 minutes with a mixer flat beater. Add the butter or margarine and cheese; blend into the batter.

Mix in the hot sauce.

Measure in additional flour, 1/4 cup at a time, and stir by hand or with the flat beater until the dough is a rough mass and has lost its wetness. It will clean the sides of the bowl. If using a mixer, attach the dough hook.

KNEADING

10 mins.

If by hand, turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead with a strong push-turn-fold motion. Add sprinkles of flour if the dough should be sticky in the early stages of kneading. In the mixer, add light sprinkles of flour until the dough cleans the bowl and gathers as a ball around the hook. Knead for 10 minutes.

BY PROCESSOR

5 mins.

Attach the steel blade.

Place 2 cups flour in the work bowl, and add the yeast and salt. Pulse to blend. With the processor running, pour the hot milk through the feed tube. Remove the cover and add the butter or margarine, cheese, and hot sauce. Close the cover and pulse 6 or 7 times to blend.

Start the processor and add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, through the feed tube or with the cover off, until the dough forms a ball and is spun around the bowl by the force of the blade.

KNEADING

1 min.

Process for 1 minute to knead.

Remove the cover and pinch off a small piece of the dough. It will be slightly sticky. Stretch it between the fingers. It should be elastic.

FIRST RISING

1 hour

Place the dough in a large greased bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and leave at room temperature until it has doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

(If prepared with a new fast-rising yeast and at the recommended higher temperatures, reduce the rising times by half.)

SHAPING

15 mins.

Punch the dough down into the bowl, knead briefly, and turn out onto the floured work surface. Cut the dough into as many pieces as you have decided to make loaves.

For the round loaf, shape the dough into 1 ball. Press into the cake pan, filling out to the edges.

For miniature loaves, press each dough piece into a flat oval, roughly the length of the pan. Fold the oval in half, pinch the seam tightly to seal, tuck under the ends, and place in the pan, seam down.

SECOND RISING

50 mins.

Cover the pans loosely with wax or parchment paper and leave until the loaves have doubled in bulk, or just begin to peek over the edge of the pans, 50 minutes.

PREHEAT

Preheat the oven to 400° 20 minutes before baking.

BAKING 400°

10 mins.

Brush the bread with the egg glaze.

350°

20 - 30 mins.

Place in the hot oven for 10 minutes, and then reduce heat to 350°. Bake the small loaves for an additional 20 minutes. Bake the large loaf for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. When tapping the bottom of the crust yields a hard, hollow sound, the bread is done.

(If using a convection oven, reduce heat 50° for each bake period.)

FINAL STEP

Remove the bread from the oven. Turn from the pans and leave on a wire rack to cool.