Swiss Cheese Bread 21/325

Carrie & Bob

The Relation

Carrie Gassmann Burrows would be my first cousin, once removed. She lives in Illinois (but not Olney) with her husband Bob. Fun fact, according my dad, Carrie's younger sister, Judy, married Bob's younger brother, Dan. Talk about the end of Shakespearian comedy!

The Process

Hassel back?

I will be honest, apart from purchasing the ingredients I had very little to do with making this recipe. This delicious bread will conclude the dish nightmare that was having my group of College Student Government Pals over. Which was not all that nightmarish except for the fact I didn’t prep like I should have. At this point, you’re probably wondering if I ever prep properly. The answer is no.

Alright, back to the bread. I did a little bit of hunting for the “soft crust French bread” called for in the ingredients. When I think of French bread, I usually imagine a crispy baguette, as oppose to anything soft. I found what appeared to be a soft crusted loaf of French bread in the bakery of my local smiths (they should sponsor me at this point, I swear). The label didn’t say “soft crust” but I poked it a little and it seemed okay.

Cheese on Cheese on CHEESE

Once I had the ingredients, all credit goes to College Pal Josh (and maybe also Armon). Josh took this assignment and ran with it. As I read the bread slicing instructions to him, he said “right, so a Hassel back?” To which I responded, “a what??” Well, folks, it turns out that Hassel backing your bread means you slice it almost all the way through to the bottom. That way all the slices stay attached to the bottom of the bread for the eaters to pull off themselves.

I bought blocks of swiss cheese (as the recipe calls for despite later requesting them to be sliced) so my sous chefs worked on slicing the blocks very thin. They definitely ended up using a few broken slices in between each slice of bread. They did use the entirety of the block, so I knew this was gonna be cheesy.

We had some creative interpretations of the foiling. Josh put his loaf in a little cocoon of its own while Armon built a cage around the entire pan.

Armon's (top)& Josh's (bottom)

The Feedback

Josh will say his loaf was better, but I think they both were spectacular. Fair warning, this is not a dish for the faint of heart. Seriously, it’s so buttery and carb-loaded, you might start worrying for your heart. Totally worth it though. I really liked the poppy seeds as an add-in. It made for some extra texture on top of giving the bread some aesthetic depth. I’m not sure if that’s a real thing or not, but today it is.

The Receipt

SWISS CHEESE BREAD - CC90
Carrie Gassmann Burrows

½ cup melted margarine
2 Tbs minced onion
1 Tbs Dijon or Dutch mustard
2 tps lemon juice
1 Tbs poppy seeds
½ tps Laury’s Seasoning Salt
1 block Swiss cheese
1 loaf soft crust French bread

Combine all ingredients but cheese and bread. Slice bread diagonally and put a thin slice of cheese between each slice. Place on foil and pour butter mixture over top. Bring up sides of foil but do not cover top. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.