A cheesy Italian appetizer that is excellent with ranch dressing or marinara.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 55 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 (1 ounce) packages dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1 cup shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese
Instructions
- Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a bowl. Let stand until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam, about 5 minutes.
- Combine yeast mixture with vegetable oil, salt, and half the flour in a large mixing bowl; stir mixture until no dry spots remain. Stir in remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
- Place dough in a large, lightly-oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about at least 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Place risen dough into an 8×8-inch square baking pan. Cover the top of the dough with Italian salad dressing mix and sprinkle loaf with oregano, black pepper, and red pepper flakes.
- Bake in preheated oven until the top is golden brown and the bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped, about 30 minutes. About 5 minutes before bread is finished baking, sprinkle the loaf with Colby-Monterey Jack cheese; bake until cheese has melted. Cut into wedges and serve warm.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 243 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 35 g |
| Cholesterol | 16 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 1560 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
My family loved this! I made it exactly as specified and the result was great. Very simple for weekday meals.
I’ve made a few changes, due to ingredients on hand, and laziness. I used bread flour instead of all purpose, it’s what I had. I used 1 tsp of each spice because all of my “good” measuring spoons were dirty and I had a lone teaspoon and tablespoon floating around. I also added a tiny bit of malted barley flour, because a pinch in low flour recipes seems to make things fluffier. I’ve added everything to the mix. Not because the other way didn’t sound lovely, but because my family has threatened to throw me out if I “make one more loaf of bread this week”. So I’m making dinner rolls. Dinner rolls do NOT count as a loaf of bread. So I formed dinner rolls. They rose beautifully, they smelled heavenly, and they tasted wonderful. Sadly, rolls have also been added to the banned list. But I will totally make these again! Next week!
We thought this was good! I did follow Marianne’s advice by only using 1 packet dry dressing mix and incorporating it into the dough. I mixed everything in my bread machine, and then just went from there, which worked nicely. I would make this again! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
The dough for this bread came together easily–smooth and elastic–probably because of the amount of yeast for the flour. The dough doubled in size in only 45 minutes, catching me totally off guard. The cooking time was right on the mark. The bread part was quite thick, and the seasonings just sat on the top. I could only bring myself to use one packet of the dry Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing mix. When I put the cheese on the browned bread, it wouldn’t spread out very easily. Then when I went to cut it into wedges, the cheesy part just fell off the bread. I have a couple of ideas how to do this differently. I could mix one of the packets of salad dressing mix into the dough, which would help out that flavor. I think a better solution would be to roll the dough out double the size, put all the seasonings and cheese on half and then fold over the other half and pinch it to seal it, letting all the yummy goodness melt in the middle. This has strong possibilities, and I hate to see my review keep anyone from making this bread.