Dill Bread-James Beard Version

Almost identical to the dill casserole bread HERE, save for the whole wheat in this one. My sense is that these were pretty popular in the early 70's (my mother-in law once asked if I'd made them) though I didn't grow up with anything of the sort.

With only one rise, the bread is quick and simple to get made, and on a warm day like today, it rose like crazy in an hour.

I used dill weed rather than dill seed, and as I didn't have dry cottage cheese on hand, I drained some creamed style and it worked just fine. I suspect if you had some paneer sitting in the fridge you could crumble it into the dough as a decent substitute. My bread came out lovely.

It won't last long, so try to use it quickly. The recipe makes one smallish loaf.

You Will Need:

2 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup lukewarm water
8 ounces large curd cottage cheese-dry style or drained if using creamed-at room temperature
1 egg at room temperature
2 teaspoons grated onion
2 tablespoons melted butter, cooled
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons dill weed

Dissolve the yeast with the sugar and water in a large mixing bowl, and let stand five minutes. Stir the cottage cheese into the yeast and add the egg beating well. Blend in the onion, melted butter, salt, and baking soda. Beat in the whole wheat flour. Add the dill and beat in the all purpose flour, half a cup at a time. You may not need all of it, or may need more.

Knead until; smooth, about five minutes.

Grease a 9x5x3 inch bread pan. Fit the dough into it, cover loosely and let rise until doubled.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Bake bread 30-40 minutes or until it sounds hollow when rapped on the bottom. The bread will be quite dark.

Cool on a rack before slicing.