Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Bread

This plaited bread is a bit of a favorite of my kids. They love to rip apart the still warm bread and gobble it down! It is also great for taking along to a BBQ and nicely sliced it up for the adults!

The ingredients listed is enough to make two loaves. Only one is described / shown throughout the instructable, simply repeat the stuffing process with the second half of the dough.

Dough

• 1 1/3 cup warm water
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp powdered milk
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 4 cup flour
• 1 tsp yeast

Filling

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp garlic
• 2 rashers of bacon
• 1 cup of grated cheese

We use a bread maker to prepare the dough. This is an easy way to get consistent results. Breadmakers are not very expensive if you are happy to buy one second hand, quite often they seem to have been hardly used...

1. Add the dough ingredients in the order that they are listed. This prevents the yeast from being activated too soon.
2. Set the bread maker to its dough setting and sit back and relax!

Note : Our breadmaker does not preheat the ingredients. If yours is the same then you need to warm the mixing bowl with hot water before adding the ingredients, this seems to improve the lightness of the finished bread.

Follow the video above for details on how to turn the dough into a stuffed plait. In summary:

1. Heat up the butter and mix in the garlic.
2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
3. Split in two and set half aside.
4. Split in three and roll into sausages about 50cm long.
5. Press the sausages flat and lay the stuffing ingredients down the center. Start by spreading the garlic butter and then scattering the remainder over top.
6. Rub a small amount of milk along the edges and bring the long edges together in order to sandwitch the filling in the center.
7. Take the three completed sausages and plait them together, adjusting the loaf as you go for a nice neat finish.
8. Brush the completed loaf with a little bit of milk.
9. Repeat the above with the second half of the dough.

Put the bread into an oven (170 deg) for about 30min. I have it on good authority that this time is not critical but you will get better results if you take the time for this second rising.

Increase the temperature to 385 deg and cook for approx 20min. You want the crust to be a nice golden brown.

This bread can be simply torn apart and enjoyed whilst still warm. No additional topping is needed due to it being stuffed with cheese and butter.

There are a number of variations that could be done with the stuffing, from adding chillis to putting in fruit and spices. Use ingredients that you like and I am sure every loaf will become a favourite!