Rosemary Asiago Cheese Bread {Whole Wheat}

Why would anyone want to bake their own bread?  That's crazy.  People who bake their own bread are weird I used to say.  Mind you, I am not a baker - at all.  I don't consider myself skilled in cakes, pies or pastries.  Now, after discovering how easy it is to make my own pizza dough, I felt courageous enough to give a loaf a bread a shot.  So fun!  And I was delighted to find it also pretty easy.  This bread is dense, yet full of flavor.  I love the idea of being able to control exactly what goes into your bread, no preservatives, or crazy unrecognizable ingredients.

This week, I was encouraged to give baking bread a shot by the Food Matters Project.  I love, love, love being a part of such a food conscious, healthy yet creative group of food bloggers.  For those unfamiliar, every week a fellow blogger chooses a recipe from Mark Bittman's Food Matters Cookbook, and over 40 bloggers take to their kitchens to create recipes inspired by that week's selection.

Real Whole Wheat Bread was this week's recipe chosen by Melissa of The Faux Martha.  When I'm at Whole Foods, I sometimes can't resist picking up a fancy loaf of bread with cheese in it.  So of course my take on the recipe involves cheese!  Fresh rosemary is also a obsession of mine.  So good!

Ingredients

3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp active yeast
2 cups freshly grated asiago cheese, 1/2 cup reserved
1 tsp of fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup water

Method

In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, yeast, salt, rosemary, Italian seasoning and 1 1/2 cups asiago cheese.  Add 1 3/4 cups water (I used room temperature water) and stir until blended. The dough should be wet and sticky, but not liquid.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit on your counter for 18 - 24 hours.  Try to give it the full 24 hours for the best taste!

Grease a metal baking sheet pan with olive oil.  Place the dough on the sheet.  With a sharp knife, gently cut a large X into the top of the dough.  Brush the dough with the remaining oil and sprinkle with reserved asiago cheese, use from 1/4 to 1/2 cup.  {I won't judge you if you use a full 1/2 cup, go ahead, do it!}  Top with extra rosemary.  Cover with a towel and let the dough rise again for about an hour or two.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the bread for about 45 minutes until it is golden and sounds hollow when you tap on it. Immediately place bread onto a cooling rack and let it cool before slicing.  This tastes amazing on its own, with a little bit olive oil, or with some hot soup! Enjoy!