Brethren Cheddar Bread

Brethren Cheddar Bread
An Old Recipe From The Hancock Shaker Village, Hancock, Massachusetts

Makes 4 loaves (each 7 3/8 x 3 5/8 x 2 1/4)

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 cups coarsely shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dill weed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups milk

Sift together into a large mixing bowl the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until crumbly - about the texture of uncooked oatmeal.  Stir in the shredded cheese and the dill.  Combine the eggs and milk, then add all at once, stirring just enough to moisten the dry ingredients uniformly.  Divide batter among 4 very well-greased 7 3/8 x 3 5/8 x 2 1/4-inch loaf pans and bake in a hot oven (400 degrees) for 35 to 40 minutes or until loaves are nicely browned and sound hollow when thumped.  Coll loaves upright in their pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, then invert and remove from pans.  Slice fairly thick (about 1/2-inch thick) and serve.

Taken from Recipes From America's Restored Villages. by Jean Anderson.
Published by Doubleday & Company, 1975