Andersen’s Onion Cheese Bread
I had forgotten about Andersen’s Onion Cheese Bread until I started researching the main attraction at the Andersen’s Pea Soup restaurants in various California locations. This bread is a wonderful mashup of crunchy poppy seeds, chewy onion fragments and mellow cheddar cheese and other dairy products. It’s served on the side so you can dunk it in the soup or spread with butter and eat on its own. Adapted from this recipe which says it originally appeared in the Modesto Bee.
Ingredients:
6 T dried milk powder
1 T dehydrated onion (you can substitute 3 T chopped fresh onion but dehydrated preferred)
1 T honey or sugar
2 t or one packet instant dry yeast
1 ½ c lukewarm water
4 c all-purpose flour
2 t Kosher salt
2 T softened butter or other shortening
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (add more if you like)
2 T poppy seeds
Method: combine water, onion, honey/sugar, dried milk powder and yeast in the bowl of your mixer. Stir to combine, then wait about 5 minutes till it starts to froth. Add other ingredients and mix on first speed 2 minutes or until thoroughly combined. Knead 7 minutes at second speed, adjusting hydration as needed; this is a fairly dry dough which should clear the sides of the bowl and clump around the mixing hook.
Cover the dough and let it rise 1 hour at room temperature until it has expanded noticeably. Punch it down then transfer to appropriate baking pan: this recipe will fit one full-size bread loaf pan, two 9×4 mini-loaf pans (my choice) or can be proofed in a basket and baked in dutch oven or on a baking stone. If using a pan, lightly butter the bottom and sides before adding dough.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover the dough with a towel and proof until risen about 30-50%, which will take an hour or less at room temperature. Bake 45-50 minutes or until brown on top. Cool on racks then serve warm.
