Muenster Bread

The Mission: Make "Muenster Bread" as found in an old Taste of Home's Blue-Ribbon Recipes booklet by my best friend Mark. I decided to add this to the Easter Dinner menu in order to get as many reviews as possible (and feed it to Mark who will be attending).

The Ingredients:

• 2 packages (1/4 oz each) active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm milk (110* to 115*F)
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 1/4 to 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 4 cups (1 lb) shredded Muenster cheese
• 1 egg white, beaten

The Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in milk. add butter, sugar, salt, and 2 cups of the flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a sof dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. In a large bowl, beat egg and yolk; stir in cheese. Punch dough down; roll into a 16" circle. Place in a greased 9" round cake pan, letting the dough drape over the edges. Spoon the cheese mixture into center of the dough. Gather dough up over filling in 1 1/2" pleats. Gently squeeze pleats together at top and twist to make a top knot. Allow to rise 10-15 minutes. Brush loaf with egg white. Bake in a preheated, 375*F oven for 45-50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

The Result:

Well, the bread got a little brown on the top instead of staying a nice golden color, but I'll go ahead and blame that on my cheap oven. haha. I didn't take my time and make nice, even pleats, so the loaf looked a little funky, too. But it tasted fantastic!

The Reviews:

Everyone who tried a piece really liked it. My family and my in-laws all tried a piece and were raving about it. My husband - who wasn't really sure about the muenster part of it - seemed rather impressed. I think this bread is definitely worth baking again. I am adding it to my repetoire for entertaining.