16 November 2008

No Knead Cheddar Batter Bread for Breadline Africa

Cheddar Batter Bread 
Some of you have asked me about the bread that was paired with my comforting Potato and Swiss Chowder in the last post. I baked this bread with a very specific purpose in mind. Deeba of Passionate About Baking tagged me to bake a bread and bring awareness to a very worthy event BREADLINE AFRICA . Some of you are aware of my passion to alleviate hunger in the world with our World Food Day event and World Food Day-Time to be Thankful, so, this seemed like an appropriate outlet to continue raising awareness. The plight of millions of hungry in Africa and the world over is something to think long and hard about.

Jeanne of Cooksister has brought this exceptional event to our attention.

This is what Jeanne says about this event:




"Breadline Africa is a charity close to my heart because it is a South African-based charity that is seeking to put a lasting end to poverty in South Africa (and further afield in Africa) by breaking the cycle of poverty and helping communities to achieve long-term self-sustainability. Breadline Africa was founded in 1993 when a group of community and social workers in South Africa (who had first-hand knowledge of the uniquely African problems that they faced) formed an alliance with like-minded colleagues in Europe (who were well-placed to source donations in valuable foreign currency). Armed with this unique combination of skills, Breadline Africa has been able to raise funds in Europe and use their local knowledge to identify which small, ground-level projects in Africa are most likely to succeed with a financial boost.

On Blog Action Day, Breadline Africa launched their Worldwide Blogger Bake-Off campaign. The aim is to raise $1 million in funds for a project to convert shipping containers into locations for food production and distribution in Africa. It is hoped that these sustainable community kitchens will not only provide food such as bread and soup to those in need, but also opportunities for skills development within poor communities."

So how does the Breadline Africa Worldwide Blogger Bake Off Campaign work? Quite simply:

Bake bread, give dough.

You can sign up for the campaign, make a donation, upload your bread recipes and document your culinary adventures in the media center to spread the word. You don't have to donate money but simply just mention the campaign and create awareness.

Bloggers can go even further by downloading the Blogger Bake-off widget and tagging five other bloggers to do the same. Being the overachiever that I am the 10 bloggers that I am tagging for this event are:

Dharm of Dad-Baker & Chef
Ning at her blog Heart and Hearth
Susan of Food Blogga
Jenn from Leftover Queen
Ben of What's Cooking
Rosie from Rosie Bakes a Piece of Cake
Jen of A2EatWrite
Alexandra of Alexandra's Kitchen
Sue of Food Network Musings
Adam over at Baking with Dynamite

With the holidays approaching you may not have time to bake your own bread but a mention of this worthy cause on your blog would spread the word..... and even if you haven't been tagged feel free to join!!!

On to the recipe.....

With all the hype about no knead breads in the media I have turned to the quick and simple batter breads I used to bake in days gone by. These breads get their qualities and flavour from beer or require no kneading. They do have a different texture than more labour intensive bread recipes but they will fill your home with the most wonderful aromas with the least amount of effort.

This recipe makes 2 loaves, so will probably want to freeze one of them. Toast a slice and slather it with butter, apple or maple butter for a special treat!!

**Cheddar Batter Bread**

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup water
1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon hot red pepper sauce
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup precooked wild rice
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar or Swiss cheese
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for glaze

Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the buttermilk and water and heat until warm to the touch (105 to 115° F). Pour mixture into a large bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk to dissolve the yeast. Whisk in the eggs and hot sauce.

In separate bowl sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually stir dry ingredients into the liquid to make a thick batter. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, 3/4 cup of the Cheddar (or Swiss) cheese and cooked wild rice. Lightly butter two (8 -1/2 x 4 -1/2 inch) loaf pans. Spread the batter evenly in the pans. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375° F. Brush the tops of the loaves with the egg mixture. Bake 25 minutes. Sprinkle the tops of the loaves with the remaining 1/4 cup of shredded Cheddar and bake until the loaves are golden and sound hollow when removed from the pans and tapped on the bottoms, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks and cool completely. (The breads can be made 2 days ahead, wrapped in aluminum foil, and stored at room temperature.)

Makes 2 loaves

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author/owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison.
Best Blogger Tips

32 comments:

  1. Nice recipe for an extra special cause!! Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great cause and a fabulous bread to boot. The world needs more people like you Val.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, yummy! That bread looks mighty good and ever so light!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great idea and such a worthy cause. Thanks for tagging me. I'm all registered and thinking up my bread recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Val - I applaud and admire your efforts and dedication to alleviating world hunger. What a tremendous and important cause to support through your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the bread - cheesy bread is my fave.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a very worthy cause to blog about Val and with such a gorgeous bread too! It sounds delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I was also tagged by Aparna and plan to bake something within this week. Your cheesy bread sounds great.

    ReplyDelete
  9. i love easy to make home made bread and cheesey bread is always a winner

    thanks for the lovely comment on my blog about putting my stories into a book - i am constantly promising myself to do this, but there always seem to be other priorities in my life family wise - maybe one day in canada, you may be passing a bookshop and my name will be on one of the books on the display...!

    ReplyDelete
  10. A great cause Val and that is some cheesy bread! Looks delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Nice recipe dear Vall, I like it.!!! I tagged Adam too to the breadline Africa, xxGloria

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a wonderful bread and a wonderful cause! The world is a better place because of people like you! Your recipe is like none I've seen before with the wild rice and hot red pepper sauce as ingredients. YUM!

    ReplyDelete
  13. That bread looks really yummy. What a wonderful cause for bloggers to get involved in!

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a gorgeous loaf of bread! It is calling my name. Very fitting for such a worthy cause.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for the tag, Val. I really like the idea for this event, and while the busy season is approaching, I'll try my best.

    Thanks for the heads up :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yum, Ivy! What's not to love about bread and cheese?

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is indeed a worthy cause to support. Thanks for tagging me. Though I am a newbie baker, I will try my best and spread the word. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. What delicious looking bread. You can't lose with cheese thrown in for flavour.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks guys for all your lovely comments and support.

    ReplyDelete
  20. "no knead" = magic words. :)
    this looks to be a fabulous recipe for those who're lazy (me) and those who love cheese (also me). :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. So glad to see this spreading across the foodie blogosphere! It's nice to be able to raise awareness (and money!) as I'm sure we are all aware that we are very privileged to have wonderful food to write about and eat, compared to those for whom every meal is a struggle.

    I LOVE the bread, especially seeing as my general reluctance to knead bread is well-documented by now :) Bookmarked for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  22. This bread looks so good. I like reading about all these events on your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Nice recipe for a good cause.. Need to post about this soon, as well.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thank you for taking up the tag in such great spirit Val. This is a fab loaf & has great flavours! :0) Thanks again & lov, Deeba

    ReplyDelete
  25. Mmm... I love this cheddar bread, Val. Let me see what I can whip up.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I love a cheesy bread! Sound like it would be great toasted and dipped in soft boiled eggs in the morning too!

    ReplyDelete
  27. I'm in... absolutely! Thanks so much for tagging me. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Lovely yummy recipe. I grew up on toasted cheesey bread. Yum.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hi, Tamsin here from Breadline Africa! Just popped by to say THANKS for taking up our Blogger Bake Off challenge. The campaign is spreading and it's awesome!
    We have some excellent projects that will benefit from the money raised and will be writing about these very soon in our newsletter. If you haven't signed up already please do.
    Happy baking!
    Tamsin - Breadline Africa
    PS - I like the 'No Knead' part - excellent!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Wonderful bread for such a great casue Val. Many thanks for tagging me sweetie, I have baked bread for this event and blogged it but I would love to bake again for this great cause :)

    Rosie x

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hi! Already baked a bread for the cause. :) Not as fantastic as yours but it's a bread nevertheless :)

    ReplyDelete
  32. It was certainly interesting for me to read the post. Thanx for it. I like such topics and everything connected to them. I definitely want to read more on that blog soon.

    ReplyDelete

Welcome to my home. Thank you for choosing to stay a while and for sharing our lives through food. I appreciate all your support, comments, suggestions, and daily encouragement.

Val

This blog uses comment moderation therefore SPAMMERS, SELF-PROMOTERS and ADVERTISERS will be deleted.