Italian Cheese Ring

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (or one packet)
• 1 cup warm water (~120 f)
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups cheese (i use sharp cheddar, but something like asiago would be yummy, too)
• 1 -2 tablespoon italian seasoning (suit to taste) or 1 -2 tablespoon herbs, of your choice (suit to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (suit to taste)
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 cup italian salad dressing

Recipe

• 1 mix 1 c all-purpose flour and yeast in a large bowl. add butter, sugar, salt and water. stir or beat with a mixer until smooth, scraping sides of bowl to get all the flour and yeast.
• 2 add whole-wheat flour and rest of all-purpose flour, stirring/kneading until smooth.
• 3 if you have dough hooks for your mixer, you can just keep using those until the dough is smooth and springy. if not, turn dough onto a floured surface and knead by hand until the consistency is right.
• 4 grease a large bowl and turn dough into it. cover and let rise for 1 hour, or until double.
• 5 when dough has risen satisfactorily, punch it down and turn it out onto a floured cookie sheet. let rest for a few minutes.
• 6 mix together all filling ingredients except salad dressing.
• 7 roll or stretch dough into a 15x12" rectangle (about the size of the cookie sheet).
• 8 drizzle dough with salad dressing, smoothing it evenly over the surface. leave about 1" margins on edges of dough.
• 9 sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough, again leaving 1" margins.
• 10 roll dough up, jellyroll style, with one of the long sides. pinch seam together to seal (hence the non-oiled margin).
• 11 shape into a ring (i found it easiest to cut about 0.5" off each end, so that there was virgin dough exposed and then pinch that together, as it's stickier).
• 12 cut slashes in ring at 1" intervals.
• 13 cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until double.
• 14 preheat oven to 375°f.
• 15 sprinkle ring with extra cheese, sesame seeds, extra italian seasoning -- whatever floats your boat.
• 16 bake for 40 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when tapped.