7 Days Months of Baking: Day 6 - Wright's Cheese & Onion Bread

And so, we draw near the end of my much-vaunted '7 Days of Baking' project. As I write, in fact, the final installment - the second Ginger cake - has already been baked... so expect to see the write up of that in early 2012.

Here, though, we have the last of the Wright's Bread mixes, Cheese & Onion.

Ingredients:

• Wrights Cheese & Onion Bread Mix
• Water
• Butter or Oil (for greasing the baking tin/tray, or just use a tin liner)
• Flour (only for the kneading part!)

Preparation Time: 1 hour 30 minutes (1 hour 15 if baking rolls rather than a loaf)

Tools Required:

• Medium/Large Bowl
• Sturdy Mixing Impliment (a whisk is not appropriate for dough!)
• Baking Tin (2lb loaf size) or Baking Tray (enough to accommodate 10 rolls)
• Jug
• An Area of Clear, Flat Kitchen Surface (for the kneading)
• Cling Film or Cloth
• Cooling Rack

The Process:
Again, this is detailed quite clearly on the packaging, and I've written it up to some degree already with the Mixed Grain and Parmesan & Sun Dried Tomato varieties, so all I'm going to say here is that I was a bit more imaginative this time, and tried to make myself a baguette. There is some small variation in the amount of water to be added to the different mixes, but nothing worthy of any additional detail.

Of course, since you're required to leave the dough to rise for 30-40 minutes, something that starts out shaped like a baguette ends up looking somewhat more like a bâtard... And, since I ended up leaving the dough for a little over an hour this time, it had become so large, I couldn't have turned the risen dough into a single baguette that would fit in my oven.

Also, since my only option for something this size was to place it on a baking tray, I laid down a sheet of foil before shaping the dough in the first place. Not as easy to remove as the tin liners I've used before, but far less effort than greasing the tray. Finally, in a fit of pique, I decided to remove this bread from the oven after only 25 minutes, since my experience with the cakes and the other breads suggests that Wright's estimated cooking time doesn't suit my oven.

The Results:
Well, if the Parmesan & Sun Dried Tomato bread was unexpectedly light on cheesiness, this one more than made up for it, leaving Wright's mixtures in generally very good standing. When I munch on a Cheese and Onion loaf, I expect to taste both cheese and onion. Naturally, the minute crumbs of cheese in the mixture (2% this time, but still Parmesan) are absorbed fully into the bread during its time in the oven, but the onion pieces - while small - remain a tangible component both to the eye and to the palate.

The slightly reduced cooking time did indeed result in a softer crust, but no discernible difference to the interior of the loaf... it was soft, light and nicely moist. I was a little disappointed that my knife-scoring on the top of the dough didn't open out more, but that's just me getting (briefly) hung up on a small, aesthetic point. I'm guessing that I just didn't score deeply enough, or made some other mistake than can be rectified for future loaves by research and/or with practice.

I don't normally add photos of the stuff I cook for this blog (but often wonder if perhaps I should... Feedback, anyone?), but I was so happy with the results of this particular round of baking that I just had to take a few snaps...