Easy Onion Casserole Bread

     Looking through the recipes on Cooks.com is like browsing through the pages of an endless church cookbook.  The recipes are usually unedited and posted as if you were looking at a cook's worn index card from their recipe box.  I liked the looks of this Easy Onion Casserole Bread because it required only a handful of ingredients and seemed like it was made for dutch oven cooking.  If you want to get your feet wet working with yeast breads, this is the perfect place to start.  As you can see from the photos I let the bread get away from me and it browned a little too much in the middle.  My mistake was not moving the coals from the center of the lid to the outside soon enough.  Also there wasn't much clearance between the top of the loaf and the underside of the lid.  It might be safer to make this in your 12 inch oven, it just won't rise quite as high, more along the lines of a Foccacia bread.  I baked this in my 10 inch oven with 10 coals in a ring around the bottom and 18 or so on the lid.  After the first ten minutes of cooking time move the center coals to a ring around the outside.  Give it a rap after 25 minutes, if it sounds hollow it should be done.   The subtle flavors of the tangy sour cream and crunchy onions give this simple bread a unique taste, definitely easy and undeniably good.

 Easy Onion Casserole Bread
1 1 lb. package Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix
3/4 cup warm water (heated to 105-110 degrees)
1/2 cup dairy sour cream
1 egg
3 oz. can French fried onions, crumbled

     In large bowl mix warm water with yeast from Hot Roll Mix.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes or until yeast has dissolved.
     Stir in egg and sour cream. 
     Add flour mixture from package and finely crushed onions.  Stir well.  Place in lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise in warm place for 40-45 minutes or until doubled in size.
     Lightly oil or spray a 10 inch dutch oven.
     Stir or punch down dough; lift into prepared dutch oven and spread evenly in oven.  Cover and let rise 30-35 minutes.
     Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until loaf is deep golden brown and makes a hollow sound when tapped in the center.
     Remove from oven, serve while warm. 

After first rise, press dough into dutch oven, let rise a second time before baking

A little brown on top but still tasty

Fun to make and good to eat

Boys night out