My 83th experiment: dilly cottage cheese bread

I've never mixed baking soda with yeast. I wonder why this recipe of dilly casserole bread from Bernard Clayton does that. I'd think that yeast does well in the acidic environment of cottage cheese. Anyway, the best way to understand something is to get hands-on. As it turns out, it's wonderfully memorable!

Recipe: dilly cottage cheese casserole bread (1 pan)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup KAF all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup 1% lowfat cottage cheese
- 1.5 tp active dry yeast
- 1/8 tp baking soda
- 1 TB white sugar
- 1/2 tp salt
- 1 tp fried minced onion
- 1 tp dried lemon dill weed
- 1 egg
- 1-2 TB vegetable oil

Procedure:
1. Proof yeast in 2 TB water for about 10 minutes.
2. Sieve flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda into one medium bowl. Add onion and dill. Mix well.
3. Add cottage cheese, egg and proofed yeast into the dry ingredients. Mix well to form a very thick batter.
4. Allow batter to rise for 1 hour. Punch it down. Transfer to a casserole pan greased with 1-2 TB vegetable oil. Allow to rise again until volume doubles.
5. Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes until loaf is deep brown and crusty.

Results:
2:22pm, all ingredients:

2:31pm, ingredients measured out:

2:37pm, egg and yeast added:

2:37pm, cottage cheese added:

2:40pm, mixing:

2:48pm, final batter done:

2:48pm, final batter height before rising:

3:38pm, batter risen 50 minutes:

3:42pm, texture of risen batter:

3:44pm, pouring batter:

3:52pm, batter to rise in casserole that is generously greased:

3:52pm, batter height before rise:

4:28pm, batter risen 36 minutes:

4:46pm, batter risen almost an hour:

4:47pm, batter's height:

4:47pm, pan started baking at 350F:

5:09pm, pan baked 20 minutes, uncovered:

5:22pm, pan resumed baking covered, baked 35 minutes:

5:22pm, thermometer coming out still with a little crumbs:

5:22pm, loaf's top when hot and freshly out of oven:

5:23pm, loaf's height:

5:34pm, loaf cooled 10 minutes, turned out, bottom:

5:34pm, pan's bottom:

5:34pm, loaf's top when slightly cooled:

5:35pm, loaf's corner:

5:35pm, loaf's side:

6:29pm, interior when cut:

6:30pm, details of center of the loaf, with holes created by melted cottage cheese:

6:30pm, details near the crust:

6:21pm, spongy softness of the loaf when pressed on:

Observations:
1. This loaf comes out of the oven a total surprise to me. The crust is beautiful, while the crumb feels really soft even when I try to detach the bread from the pan. This is an incredible experience, unlike any other.
2. While this loaf reaches a very high internal temperature after 35 minutes, the crumb remains very soft, unable to hold the thermometer.
3. When the loaf is taken out of the oven, it continues to cook in the heat of the casserole. The loaf does not collapse after it slowly cools in the pan.

Wow! How I love this surprise!