Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread - OH MY GOODNESS!!!

We had our Christmas Eve party this year as pot-luck and I decided to give Pioneer Woman's Olive Cheese Bread a try.  The recipe is dead simple.  Let me just say what everyone at the party said "Oh my goodness!!!  This bread is the BOMB!  Give me the recipe!"  And it was the bomb and I suppose it should be, with almost a pound of cheese and a full stick of butter...

This is NOT my photo.  It was gone too fast to even think about getting one, haha.  This photo is straight from the Pioneer Woman's website.  She gets full credit here!  Click here to visit Pioneer Woman's website.

Ingredients

• 1 loaf French Bread
• 6 ounces, weight Pimiento-stuffed Green Olives
• 6 ounces, weight Black Olives
• 2 stalks Green Onions (scallions)
• 1 stick Butter, Room Temperature
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 3/4 pounds Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated

Preparation Instructions

Roughly chop both black olives and pimiento-stuffed green olives. Slice green onions into thin pieces.

Combine butter, mayonnaise, cheese, olives and green onions in a mixing bowl. Stir together until thoroughly combined. Spread mixture onto French bread that has been sliced lengthwise. Bake at 325ºF for 25 to 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and browning.

Mixture can also be refrigerated (up to two days) and used as a dip. Great with crackers.

Thank you Ree "Pioneer Woman" for this wonderful recipe that we will definitely make again and again.

Scones

I call these "any ingredient" scones because I have made many different varieties using this as a base recipe with good results every time.

Preheat your oven or toaster oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2 cups plus 1 Tablespoon flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup of your ingredient - I used chocolate chips
1 Tablespoon flour
6 Tablespoons butter
1 cup half and half or milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a bowl, mix the first 4 ingredients, no sifting required.

Place your ingredient into a bowl and add 1 Tablespoon all purpose flour and mix.  Place in the freezer until needed.  Here I used chocolate chips.  Frozen fruit works beautifully.  I have also used pecans and cubes of cheese.  The cheese scones are out of the world!

To your dry mix, add 6 Tablespoons cold butter cut into chunks.  Using a pastry cutter or a fork cut the butter into the flour until the butter pieces are incorporated and are small.

Measure out 1 cup of half and half and add 1 teaspoon vanilla.
You can use regular milk, but will have to use less than a cup or your mix will be too wet.
Add the half and half/vanilla to the flour mix and stir until barely incorporated.  Add your ingredient, stir to mix and turn out onto a large piece of floured waxed paper.  Using the was paper to help you, fold the mixture onto it self three or four times then pat it into a circle.

Cut with a pizza cutter or knife.  Place onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and top each piece with a small square of butter.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until golden.  You can also bake them in a toaster over but the cooking time may be less, you will need to keep an eye on them.

Easy Brioche using your bread machine

Easy Brioche

This recipe comes from the book Breaking Bread with Father Dominic 2 by Father Dominic Garramone, OSB. This recipe is so easy it's stupid.

You will need a bread machine.

1/2 cup half and half or milk

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 plus 1 tablespoon bread flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons active yeast

1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Granulated sugar for dusting

Add the milk, eggs, egg yolk, butter, salt, flour, sugar and yeast to your bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer.

Here is how I added mine.

1. milk, eggs, egg yolk

2. flour, sugar, salt

3. made a small indention in the flour and added yeast

4. cut butter into 4 pieces and placed at the corners

Select dough/manual cycle. When the cycle is complete, mine takes 1 hour 20 minutes, remove dough from machine and place in a greased medium to large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 2 to 24 hours.

Remove dough from the fridge and place on a floured surface. Cut into four equal portions and shape each portion into a ball. Place dough into a greased bread pan, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size.

The recipe tells you to gently brush your dough with the egg white/water mixture and sprinkle with sugar, but I didn't do this step.

Bake in a pre heated 375 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from pan and allow to cool on a rack.

Rustic Dutch Oven Bread

Rustic Dutch Oven Bread
**Some recipes call this no-knead bread, but you do have to knead it.
This is a crusty bread that would go nicely with soup or chili. I mixed mine up to let it rise after dinner one night and baked it the next day when I got home from work, letting it rise for 18 hours. I saw no difference in the dough from that morning to that evening, so I could have baked it earlier and next time I will. Don't be afraid of this dough either, when I put mine into the hot pan I just plopped it in there. I baked mine for 20 minutes more after removing the lid and it could have used a few more minutes, but yours may vary depending on your oven. I've included another recipe at the bottom that is very similar except it also uses beer. I will be trying it next.

what you need:
1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1.5 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (I used unbleached AP flour)
1.5 teaspoons salt

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise for at least 8 hours, best 12 to 18 hours, at room temp.

When you are ready, after at least 8 hours, lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle the top with flour and knead it 15 times. This means folding it over on itself. Shape dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.

After 1 and a half hours of rising, put your dutch oven, with the lid on, in your oven and set the temp. to 450 degrees. Allow to heat for 30 minutes. Gently pick up your dough and place it into your hot dutch oven....I used olive oil to grease mine first....you can turn the dough upside down if you want, I did. Use a sharp knife to cut a few slits along the top of the dough, put the lid on the dutch oven. Return to oven and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake 20 to 30 minutes more.

Remove dough from pan and allow to cool for at least 2 hours. The bread will snap, crackle, and pop while it is cooling!
Baking and oh did it smell GOOD!

After kneading.

After an 18 hour rise.

Alternate Recipe using beer:

3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

1.5 teaspoons salt

7 ounces water, room temp.

3 ounces mild beer

1 tablespoon white vinegar

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix in the wes with a spatula. Cover and let rise for 8 to 18 hours.

Line a 10 to 12 inch skillet with parchment paper sprayed with a non-stick spray. On a floured surface knead the dough 10 to 15 times. Form the dough into a ball and place on the parchment paper; loosley cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for two more hours.

When you have 30 minutes of rise time left pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees and place your dutch oven, with the lid on, in the oven. After 30 minutes, remove dutch oven from the pre-heated oven and lift the dough ball, parchment paper and all, and place it in the dutch oven. Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake an another 15 to 30 minutes until the loaf is a deep golden brown. Allow to cool.