Grilled Cheese from scratch!
There is something spectacular about having a grilled cheese sandwich, the cheese, the warmth, the buttery bread. Its hard not to feel something comforting and homey about one, but you know what is even better! making the bread and the butter from scratch it is so much fresher and full of flavor compared to the store brought products. give it a go! it isn’t as hard as you would think.
Ingredients (for the bread)
300ml warm water
2 Tablespoons dried yeast
2 teaspoons salt
3 Tablespoons Olive oil
500 grams all-purpose flour
Instructions
Making the Dough: In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine the yeast, water, and a pinch of sugar or honey. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until it becomes foamy and bubbly. This process is called "proofing" and ensures the yeast is active. If it doesn’t foam, the yeast is no longer good, and you'll need to start over with fresh yeast.
Once it has time to be proofed, add the remaining salt, oil, and 3 cups of flour. Mix to combine.
Gradually add another cup of flour and mix until incorporated. Continue adding flour, ½ cup at a time, while the mixer is running, until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky to the touch, but not overly sticky. If needed, add a bit more flour.
Kneading the Dough: Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes on medium speed using the mixer, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5-8 minutes.
First Rise: Grease a large bowl with oil or cooking spray and place the dough inside, turning it to coat. Cover the bowl with a dish towel or plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm spot for about 1 ½ hours, or until it has doubled in size.
Preparing the Pans: Spray two 9x5-inch loaf pans generously with cooking spray. Once the dough has risen, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough into two equal portions, shape each into a long log, and place them into the prepared loaf pans.
Second Rise: Cover the pans with a clean, dry dish towel or use lightly greased plastic wrap. Let the dough rise again for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until it has risen about 1 inch above the edge of the pans. Gently remove the cover.
Baking: Preheat the oven to 175°C. Bake the loaves for 30-33 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. You can test by tapping the top of a loaf—it should sound hollow. Turn the loaves out onto a wire cooling rack. Brush the tops with butter and allow them to cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
Storage: Once the bread has cooled, store it in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for 2-3 days, or refrigerate for up to 5 days.
Ingredients (for the butter)
4 cups of heavy cream
Salt
Ice and water
Instructions
Pour in all the cream into a mixer, turn on to a low speed incrementality turning it up till on full. You will now leave that going until it gets to the point of being at peak, and allow it to continue past that, It will eventually get to a point where it will begin to separate the solids from the butter milk and that will be the point you stop.
Now, you will need to separate the hard butter ball from the butter milk, you can keep the butter milk for other recipes if you would like or you can put it on your garden if you have no use for it.
In a bowl of cold water and ice massage the butter in it, trying to get all the remaining butter milk out of it. You may need to change out the water a couple of times till there is no cloudiness to it.
In a clean bowl, ad about a teaspoon of salt into the butter and massage it in. If you prefer no salt in your butter, just skip this step.
Dry the butter to the best of your ability and place into a airtight container, this will last up to a week in the fridge.