OT for location as well as era, but the cottage cheese onion dill bread from the long-gone Tassajara Bread Bakery in San Francisco was legendary. The bakery closed in 1999, but the recipe lives on (the bread was served at Greens in SF as well):
Cottage Cheese Dill Bread - from the Greens cookbook
1 1/2 packages active dry yeast (3 1/2 teaspooons)
1 3/4 cups warm water
2 tablespoons honey or sugar
6 1/2 to 7 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
4 tablespoons corn oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup dry dill weed
1 tablespoon salt
1 egg plus 1 tablespoon milk or water, beaten, for egg wash
Directions (paraphrased of course…)
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and then add honey or sugar and 2 1/2 cups of flour. Beat hard with a spoon until you have a smooth batter, then cover & put in a warm place until the batter has doubled in size (about 45 minutes).
In the meantime, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil and saute the onion in it until the onion is translucent, then allow to cool. After the dough has doubled in size, stir in the onion, eggs, cottage cheese, dill weed, salt, and the rest of the oil and mix thoroughly. Fold in 3 cups of flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough is too thick to proceed in this manner, then turn it onto a floured surface.
Knead the dough until it is smooth, approximately 5 to 8 minutes. Only add as much flour as is needed to keep it from sticking. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and turn it over so it’s all coated with oil, then cover and let rise until doubled in size (about 40 minutes). Punch it down and let it rise again (about 30 minutes).
Form the dough into two loaves and place them in oiled pans. Preheat the oven to 350. Let the dough rise to the tops of the pans (about 20-25 minutes). Brush the tops of the loaves with the egg wash, and bake until nicely browned, about 50 to 60 minutes. Turn loaves onto racks to cool.
