As I sit at my desk writing this preface, I see grey skies, grey water, and leaves on deciduous trees in shades anywhere from rusty red to a lovely golden yellow. The leaves are beautiful, the grey – not so much! All of which however serve to remind me that it is fall, with winter just around the corner. But the one redeeming feature that makes enduring these upcoming soggy and dark months semi passable for me, is that I get to prepare soups and stews. Because I truly love to both cook and eat these hot and savory dishes. Especially when accompanied by a lovely piece or two of homemade bread. So knowing that everyone seems to love comfort food especially during the dreary months, I decided to share with you one of my favorite bread recipes. This recipe is both easy to prepare and absolutely delicious.

I have been making this bread since my children were very young. In fact, when I made this bread, or any kind of bread for that matter for an extended family dinner gathering, my son Sven would fill up on the bread, generously spread with soft butter I might add, and totally ignore the rest of the dishes I was serving. (Except dessert, of course!) But those were wonderful times, and an occasional dinner of just bread didn’t seem to hurt my son or anyone else in the least.

This recipe is straight out of my then new Stone-Buhr Kitchens 1971 cookbook entitled Cooking with Gourmet Grains. Still one of my favorite cookbooks BTW. (OK, I did reduce the amount of sugar, but that is the only change I made.)

So next time you decide to serve soup or stew, give this incredibly delicious bread a try. After all, most soups and stews take a fairly long time to cook. So while your soup or stew is happily burbling away on the stove, you could be making a loaf or two of this bread!  Now wouldn’t that thrill your family and friends?  After all, “Nothing says lovin’ like something from the oven”! Quote from the Pillsbury Doughboy (aka Poppin’ Fresh).  Actually, at 42 years old, the Pillsbury Doughboy should now be referred to as the Pillsbury Doughman. But I’ll never win that argument with the makers of advertisements, so I might as well leave that subject unassailed! Enjoy the bread.

• ¼ c. barely warm water
• 1 pkg. or 1 T. active dry yeast
• 1 T. sugar
• 1 c. lg. curd cottage cheese
• 1 T. dehydrated onion
• 1 T. unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• ¼ tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. dill seed
• 1 lg. egg
• 2¼ – 2½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour

Pour water into the mixing bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle with yeast and sugar. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the cottage cheese to lukewarm and stir in the onion, butter, salt, baking soda, and dill seed. When the mixture is cool to the touch, add the egg. Add the cottage cheeses mixture to the yeast mixture; blend with your dough hook.

Add enough flour to make a stiff batter. Knead for a couple of minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 50-60 minutes. Punch down and turn into a well-greased 1½ qt. casserole dish or loaf pan. (When making a double batch, I divide the batter between 3 loaf pans. Makes for nice sized loaves.) Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes or until almost doubled.

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches about 200 degrees. (You may need to place a piece of aluminum foil over the bread for the last 10-15 minutes to prevent the top crust from getting too brown.)

Remove bread from casserole or loaf pan; cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature with lots of soft butter.