schrafft's cheese bread

image source

Once upon an evening, after the boys were in bed, and Blake was away being the bishop, I found myself alone and bored and flipping through the handful of channels we receive over our rabbit ear antenna. Nothing caught my interest until I happened on a local mini-series airing on PBS called Appetite City. The segment was on diners, and even just the first few minutes (I arrived just as it was starting) were fascinating. It appealed to so many aspects of myself: a history-loving girl teaching myself how to cook in her adopted city of New York. So I stopped channel surfing and watched the entire half-hour-long episode.

A large part of this Diner segment focused on a once famous, but now extinct New York City restaurant chain called Schrafft's. Apparently anybody who remembers Schrafft's fondly remembers their cheese bread. But the recipe died when the restaurant did, not so much because written copies of it disappeared, but because a key ingredient became unavailable. Cheese Tang. Not only could it no longer be found, but, as time passed, no one could decipher exactly what it was.

image source

In this Appetite City episode, historic gastronomist, Sarah Lohman did a little detective work, ultimately deciding that Cheese Tang was likely a cheese powder. And where can you now find powdered cheese? Why, in a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese! And heaven knows we keep a supply of that staple on hand in our pantry at all times.

She also demonstrated how to make this famous cheese bread from Schrafft's, and as I watched her, I thought, "Hey, I could do that!" But things happened and I never got around to trying it out. Months passed, and even though I still hadn't tried to make some myself, the thought of doing so occasionally haunted me. The other day, when Blake and I mutually thought it would be nice to make a loaf of bread to take to our dear Sister Dorsky, who hasn't been feeling well lately, I decided that now would be as good a time as any to try making Schrafft's Cheese Bread.

I found the recipe on Sarah Lohman's blog. She adapted it from the original Schrafft's recipe, so it was easy to follow. And it turned out delicious. We ate some of it warm out of the oven, and the rest of it the next day dipped in a bowl of cheesy potato soup. Like she says in her video segment on Appetite City, it would be good with just about anything -- except maybe grilled cheese, but only because that might be overload. This bread is definitely a keeper, and I will most certainly be making it again.


Schrafft's Cheese Bread
adapted by Sarah Lohman from the original Schrafft's recipe

1 package dry active yeast
1 ¾ cups warm water
2 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp sugar
1-2 tsp cheese tang (powdered cheese from a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese). 
3 ½ cups flour
1 cup grated sharp cheddar

*Note: I adapted these instructions in order to use my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer. It worked great.
 

1. In a large bowl, combine yeast and ½ cup warm water. Stir to dissolve yeast. Mix remaining water with salt; stir to dissolve.  Pour over yeast and set aside.

2. In another bowl, sift together flour, sugar, and cheese powder.

3. Add flour mixture to yeast and water, one cup at a time.  When the dough becomes hard to stir, turn out onto a floured work surface.  Let dough rest while you clean out the bowls.

4. Knead dough for ten minutes, adding more flour if necessary, until dough is smooth and elastic.  Up to another 1 1/2 cups can be incorporated here.

5. Grease a bowl and place dough inside; let rise until it has tripled in size, 2-3 hours.  Punch down risen dough and turn out onto work surface.  Sprinkle grated cheese all over.  Roll the dough up and knead just long enough to incorporate cheese.  Swirls of cheese in the baked loaf are not a bad thing!

6. Grease two loaf pans; plop dough inside. Cover each with a kitchen towel and let rise 45 minutes.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

7. Put loaves in oven.  After 15 minutes, turn down heat to 350 degrees and let bake for 10 more minutes.  Cool on racks.

And devour.