Source  Our Best Bites

Recipe Added:  10/27/2014

In a large skillet cook sausage and onion over medium-high heat until meat is brown. Drain off fat. Cover and chill sausage mixture until needed. In a large mixing bowl, stir together 1 1/4 cups of flour, yeast, and Italian seasoning. In a medium saucepan heat and stir milk, butter, sugar, and salt just until warm (120 F) and butter almost melts. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; add egg. Beat with an electric mixer on low-medium speed 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead (6-8 minutes), adding enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size. (about 1 hour). Punch dough down. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into thirds. Cover, let rest 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two 9x5x3 loaf pans with parchment paper; set aside.

In a medium bowl combine sausage mixture, fontina cheese, Mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese. Set aside. Roll each portion of dough into a 30" rope then cut into 1" pieces. Divide one-third of the pieces between the prepared loaf pans. Divide one-third of cheese mixture between pans. Repeat layers two more times. Bake 35-40 minutes or until golden. Cool in pans 5 minutes then remove loaves from pans; peel off parchment paper. Serve warm.

Provolone cheese is a good substitute for Fontina.

Before baking, place prepared loaf in freezer. When frozen, use parchment paper to remove dough from pan. Wrap well in plastic and/or foil and seal in a Ziplock bag. When ready to bake, unwrap and return parchment-wrapped bread to pan. Let sit at room temp for 3-5 hours, until thawed and then bake as directed.

1. http://www.ourbestbites.com/2014/10/cheesy-italian-sausage-bread/