Guinness Cheddar No Knead Bread

So continuing on with the Guinness no knead bread theme from a couple of weeks ago, I made a Guinness cheddar variation for St. Paddy's weekend.  What can I say...sometimes I have a laser-like focus complete obsession and St. Paddy's offered an obvious opportunity to make some more loaves of no knead bread.  I seriously think I could make and eat a loaf of bread every night and never get tired of it.  The French are really on to something here. 

The base recipe is similar to the Guinness cherry pecan bread--minus the sugar.  Throw into that dough a good 1 1/2 cups of chopped and shredded cheddar...only good things happening here. 

Try very, very, very hard to remember that this recipe calls for preheating the pan which makes the pan pretty darned hot.  It's pretty easy to forget when you are just dropping some raw dough into the pan. 

I topped with some parmesan because I love how crispy parmesan gets when baked on a hot and relatively dry surface...like this bread. 

Just 5-10 minutes of effort for a loaf of awesome.  

While this bread is pretty better than okay by itself, I upped the ante by using it to make grilled cheese. That's what blogs are for really...to push you that extra step right?

Guinness cheddar bread with melted gooey cheddar insides.  I am not a grilled cheese purist by any means since I happen to love, love, love onions in mine.  I can't explain it, don't ask.  

Just a few minutes of effort and you have a pretty schmance grilled cheese sandwich with a little St. Patrick's day twist.  This recipe is my heart's true love. 

No Knead Guinness Cheddar Bread

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 3/4 cup Guinness (a can will have enough, if you use an 11 oz bottle, just pour it into a measuring cup and add water to make up the difference--about 1/4 of a cup)
3/4 cup cubed cheddar
3/4 cup shredded cheddar
1/4 cup shredded parmesan for sprinkling on top

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, yeast, garlic powder and salt. 
2. Add Guinness and mix to combine. 
3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12-18 hours or overnight.  
4. Heat oven to 450 degrees. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 25 minutes. 
5. While the oven and pan is preheating, add shredded and cubed cheddar to dough and stir well.   
6. Dump dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball.  Let rest until pan is ready.
7. Remove hot pan from the oven and carefully drop dough into ungreased pan. Top with shredded parmesan
8. Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes. 
9. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. 
10. Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack. Let cool before slicing