Italian Cheese Bread

Cut blocks of cheese into 1/4 inch cubes.

Sift flour with salt, pepper and sugar. Dissolve yeast in 1 cup of warm water.

In a small bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat eggs until light. In a large bowl, at high speed, beat butter until smooth.

With a wooden spoon (or the dough hook on your stand mixer), stir eggs into butter, then stir in yeast/water mixture, then stir in dry ingredients. Beat 10 minutes until satiny. Add cheeses and mix well.

Put the dough into a large, greased bowl. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours, or until doubles. Stir it down gently with your wooden spoon and let rise again 1 1/2 hours.

Grease a 10×4 angel food cake pan. When dough is ready, spoon into pan and let rise again until doubled. (Yes, let it rise 3 times. It’s worth the wait.)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (F). Bake 40 minutes or until bread is golden brown and makes a hollow sound when you knock on it. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then use a butter knife to help release the bread from the outside pan.

Lift out the bread by the tube and let cool 20 minutes. Use the knife again to release the bread from the bottom part of the pan. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

This is actually pretty forgiving of being baked into all sorts of shapes. This angel food cake pan method is most traditional, but it works well in 2 regular loaf pans, 3 mini loaf pans or even as Italian Cheese Muffins!