My 84th experiment: Guinness cottage cheese bread

Though I love my cottage cheese casserole bread, hubby was not particularly interested. So today, I try a variation, dropping all the herbs, using whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour, Guinness instead of egg.

Recipe: Whole wheat guinness cottage cheese bread (1 small loaf)

Ingredients:
- 1.5 cup KAF whole wheat flour
- 1+1/2 tp active dry yeast
- 1 TB white sugar
- 1/2 tp salt
- 1/8 tp baking soda
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup 1% lowfat cottage cheese
- about 1/3 to 1/2 cup guinness
- 2 TB water

Procedure:
1. Proof yeast in 2 TB water.
2. Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl.
3. Add proofed yeast and cottage cheese to dry ingredients. Mix to form a thick batter. Add guinness about 1-2 TB at a time until batter is at the right consistency.
4. Chill until 3 hours before baking time.
5. Warm dough on counter and allow to rise twice before baking.

Results:
12:03pm, ingredients:

12:06pm, mixing yeast and cheese with dry ingredients:

12:11pm, texture of batter when done and ready to chill:

3:52pm, batter chilled for 3 hours:

3:54pm, batter punched down:

4:33pm, batter rested 40 minutes on stove top:

4:35pm, batter placed in thick glass pan to proof on stove top, heated on low setting:

5:20pm, batter proofed 1 hour:

5:26pm, baking started at 350F uncovered:

6:12pm, loaf baked 50 minutes uncovered, reaching internal temperature of 190F:

6:12pm, thermometer clean:

6:17pm, loaf's bottom when detached:

6:18pm, severe sticking at bottom of pan:

6:34pm, loaf cooled a bit and cut:

6:34pm, crumb of one piece:

6:34pm, crumb at a cut:

6:34pm, crumb at the torn bottom:

Observations:
1. This loaf behaves very much like the rye bread I bake using stoneware, especially in the way their bottoms stick to the pan. I think, proofing the dough in a thick cookware with heat creates a very gummy sticky loaf.
2. There are small bits of burnt particles in the bottom and the side, just like the top. I think those bits are the cheese.
3. The crust is thick and crunchy like the hearth-baked loaves.
4. The cottage cheese is hardly noticeable in this loaf. The flavor of wheat dominates.

Hubby thinks positively of this loaf. He says it's good.