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I have spent my entire life thinking my dad is pretty much the bees-knees and since he just keeps improving with age like a fine wine (or a stinky cheese, as he would say), I’ll just keep carrying on that way. My dad has always been that perfect blend of serious, goofy, cautious and devil-may-care. For example, he’d make sure you put your seatbelt on before driving on roads that were closed due to weather conditions just because he could.
Dad is one of those renaissance men. He’s equally at home screaming at a hockey match, speaking in churches, ploughing snow, operating his ham radios, working on his local volunteer ambulance squad, fishing, reading books, crafting groan-inducing puns, felling trees on a dime, listening to beautiful music, dandling grandkids on his knees, pulling campers on water skis around a lake in a speed boat, putting nervous parents at ease on airplanes, and hiking the vast wilderness trails near where he lives.
With a list of attributes like that, is it any wonder I’m an unapologetic daddy’s girl?
But that’s not all. My dad can bake. He has a specialty bread -one that most everyone who spends a decent amount of time with him gets a chance to taste at some point or another.
Dilly Bread. Many years ago, dad took the recipe from the “Deaf Smith Country Cookbook” and made it his own. Translation: he made it better.
To begin with, this recipe is a no-knead recipe. No knead to tinker with that. Ahem.
You just mix the lot up in a big bowl with a sturdy spoon and let it rise in a warm corner. As for the changes, the original recipe called for honey as the sweetener.
Dad has mainly used sugar over the years, mainly because -as he says- that’s what he had handy. I stick with the sugar vs. honey, both because it’s easier to measure and it’s a less expensive ingredient.
Dad also played with the type and proportion of onion in the recipe. He suggests using minced dehydrated onions because “it’s easier to add more onion to the dough.”
I stick with the minced dehydrated onions not only for that reason, but also because this is a very slack, moist dough and the dehydrated onions soak up a bit of that moisture, making it easier to work with. When I asked Dad what kind of flour he prefers (because the book didn’t specify) he said, “Whatever I have on hand, but I did try making it with all whole wheat once and it didn’t rise enough for my liking.”
I personally like to toss a little whole wheat in there, so I go for about a 2:1 ratio of all-purpose flour to white whole wheat. Then you get that wonderful toasting quality of whole wheat along with the more impressive rising ability of all purpose.
Now, once your dough is rising, you need to turn your attention to what you’ll use to bake it. I had a double batch of this rising on the counter the other day when I realized that my oven had (once again!) broken.
The potential two-fold horror of wasting A.) a batch of perfectly good bread dough for my favourite bread that has B.) four full cups of cottage cheese ($$$$$) in it made me get really creative really quickly. I determined that my little old toaster oven could fit two standard loaf pans in it side-by-side, but that wouldn’t account for the other two loaves worth of dough.
I brought out and greased a fistful of ramekins in a fit of desperation and found that it made BEAUTIFUL little individual loaves when baked.
The little loaves somehow skirt the “don’t cut when hot” rule. Why is this? Well, mainly because a tiny, hot loaf of bread just hollers, “Top me with a cold pat of butter and watch it melt!”
And if you do that, you have to do this…
Right?
So- you’re left with choices… standard loaf pans, ramekins, or…by extrapolation… pretty oven-safe bowls. The nice thing about using ramekins for dough was that I had leftover dough that wouldn’t fit anywhere I could bake it before over-rising.
How is this a nice thing now when it’s usually to be avoided?
It’s time I introduce you to yet another one of my dad’s finer ideas… The Baker’s Tax. This is the reason you want to be at my dad’s house when he’s baking.
He deliberately ACCIDENTALLY puts a little too much of everything into his mixing bowl so he has too much dough to fit in available pans. He then rolls little bits of the dough out as thin as he can without ripping it, melts an indecent quantity of butter in a cast-iron skillet…
…And fries those rounds of dilly, oniony, cheese-studded dough.
Behold the brilliance of The Baker’s Tax.
If you are nearby when these are fresh from the oven and you have a single lick of sense, you will beat a hot path for the kitchen and be not proud about eating as many of these little rounds of glory as you possibly can.
If you should somehow make an entire batch of dough into these, I will tell you that you probably couldn’t find a better possible flat bread to wrap around smoked turkey breast, lettuce and onion with a smear of spicy mustard. But that scenario would presuppose you hadn’t already eaten them all, so we’ll just leave that one alone.
In the meantime, while you’re waiting for your standard loaves of the stuff to bake, contemplate how you want to serve the finished product. Sliced thin, this is just about the best deli-meat sandwich vehicle you’ll ever eat. Toasted on one side in a pan with butter, you can’t imagine a better accompaniment to a fried egg, mug full of soup, or bowl full of stew.
But if you were to slice a couple of hearty pieces of bread, butter them both and stack them around some nice melty cheese, then slowly fry it in a pan until it was deep golden brown and the cheese was gooey, you might just yawp from the pure joy of the thing.
Six out six sturgeon faces agree: any way you slice it, Papa’s Dilly Bread makes people happy.
No-Knead Cottage Cheese Dill Bread | Papa’s Dilly Bread
Rate RecipeIngredients
- 2 tablespoons yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water plus a pinch of sugar
- 2 cups small curd cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil like canola, vegetable, or corn
- 2 tablespoons raw or granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons dried minced onion
- 1 tablespoon dried dill SEED
- 1 teaspoon dried dill WEED
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 eggs beaten
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour *See Notes
Instructions
- Gently stir the yeast into the warm water with the pinch of sugar in the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes, or until the yeast is frothy. While that rests, whisk together the cottage cheese, milk, oil, sugar, minced onion, dill seed and weed, salt and eggs in a saucepan over low heat just until lukewarm.
- Add that to the yeast mixture and stir. Add the flour all at once and use a sturdy spoon to mix until there are no dry pockets of flour and everything is evenly moist. The dough will be shaggy, but that is as it should be. Don't get zealous and try to over work it.
- Cover with a damp tea-towel and let rise in a warm place for about an hour and a half, or until almost doubled in bulk.
- Grease the pans you want to use to cook them (it will yield 2 standard loaf pans but can also be divided among ramekins or baked in oven-proof bowls.) Divide the dough to fill the greased pans by about 1/3. Reserve any leftover dough for The Baker's Tax (See Notes).
- Cover the loaf pans with a damp tea towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the risen dough for 30-40 minutes for full-sized loaves or 25-30 minutes for ramekin sized individual loaves.
- Remove from the oven and let the loaves rest in the pans for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Store loaves wrapped in a clean towel at room temperature for up to three days, or wrap cooled loaves in a double layer of plastic wrap and freeze for up to three months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Reader's Thoughts...
AJ says
Many years ago I used to bake all my family’s bread. Dilly bread was 1 of our favorites. At our next family gathering this recipe will be on our table. Thanks for the recipe and for bringing back memories!
Rebecca says
You’re so welcome, AJ. Thanks for taking the time to say hi!
Elle says
Geezzz, just the recipe please.
Rebecca says
Please feel free to use the “Jump to recipe” button at the top of the post. It will scroll directly to the recipe and quickly past the tribute to my father if you’d prefer not to read it. Here’s a gentle reminder, though: this content on this blog is developed and hosted online by me free of cost to all readers, some of whom like to read a bit more. The “Jump to Recipe” button is for those who do not.
AJ says
I loved the story behind this bread
Dem says
Same here…loved the story, very sweet. I think your dad is equally lucky having you (along with your husband/sons for that matter).
In fact it was *because* of the story that I’m even saving this recipe aside to actually try very soon! I only happened across it looking for dill ideas, and cottage cheese – the good real stuff anyway, not the horrid milk-ingredient/chemical cheap versions – is a bit expensive around here. But…will buy some shortly and try this bread!
Rebecca says
Thank you, Dem. That’s so kind of you!
Lee says
Your comment is rude, Elle. That’s why there’s a “Jump to Recipe” button.
cecilia says
So happy for this recipe. Have made before and love it. I have extra cottage cheese so will make some and freeze. Thank you for the recipe 😘
Rebecca says
You’re very welcome, Cecilia! I’m so glad you like it. Thanks for taking the time to let me know.
Essie says
I am really thankful to have found your papa’s recipe for dill, cottage cheese bread. My father gave me his recipe for a very similar bread, which I lost when I moved. He was not much interested in cooking anything and it was the only recipe of his I had. My father is gone now and I’m really looking forward to baking this recipe as a reminder of him. Thanks for publishing this!
Rebecca says
You’re very welcome, Essie! I hope this tastes like your memory of your dad’s bread!! xoxox
Sherri L Boyle says
I came here looking for a good dilly bread recipe. I don’t actually like dill but wanted to make this recipe because I have wonderful memories of my grandmother making this bread when I was young. I typically hit “jump to recipe” and skip the commentary but read your’s from start to finish. Thanks for sharing your sweet story of your dad and this recipe. I substituted dried Herbes de Provence (rosemary, marjoram, thyme, savory, sage) for the dill and a mix of dehydrated garlic and shallots instead of the onion. The bread turned out fantastic and was a great compliment to the soup that I served for dinner. Thanks also for idea of the baker’s tax! I tried that too — delicious!!!
Rebecca says
Thanks so much for the kind comment, Sherri, and for taking the time to rate the recipe and let me know you love it. It’s such a great jumping-off point of a recipe, too, as you found with your delicious substitutions! Happy baking!
Angie May says
Have you ever tried making a compound butter with curry powder, to brush the still warm loaves with, or even softened for spreading on the finished bread? My mom always added this to her dill bread.
Rebecca says
That sounds outstanding!
Carolyn Baughman says
This bread is absolutely delicious! I added 2 tablespoons of minced chives and 2 large cloves of garlic, pureed. I used 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour and the rest King Arthur bread flour. Still a very soft loaf, but it gets better. Since I am the only one eating, have found that wrapped in a paper towel and kept in a zippy in fridge, it will keep two weeks. Thanks for excellent recipe.
Rebecca says
You’re so welcome, Carolyn! I’m so glad you took the time to rate the recipe and let me know you loved it. Thank you!
Lisa van Linder-Quintos says
Have had a similar recipe I used to make three decades ago. Moving homes and across continents, I lost the recipe. BUT this is similar and offers the same joy from when my younger teen-self used to make it. What a joy to find this!! Deserves more than five stars! Thank you!!!
Rebecca says
Wow, Lisa! Thank you so much for taking the time to rate this recipe and let me know you love it. I love this story so much!