Roasted Garlic & Mushroom Batter Bread

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Peel away the dry outer layers of skin from garlic bulb, leaving skins and cloves intact. Cut off the pointed top portion (about 1/4 inch), leaving the bulb intact but exposing the individual cloves. Place the garlic bulb, cut side up, in a custard cup. Drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon olive oil. Cover the custard cup with foil and roast for 25 to 35 minutes or until the cloves feel soft when pressed. Set aside just until cool enough to handle. Squeeze out the garlic paste from the individual cloves and place in a small bowl. Mash with a fork.

Cook mushrooms in the remaining 1 tablespoon hot oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until tender and starting to brown, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Stir together the water and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms, scraping in as much of the oil from the skillet as possible. Stir in the roasted garlic, cottage cheese, parsley, egg, sugar, chives, salt, and baking soda. Stir in the whole-wheat flour and enough of the all-purpose flour as needed to make a stiff dough that is still sticky. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, turning once to grease the surface of the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size (1 to 1 1/4 hours).

Lightly grease the bottom of a 9-inch round baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment (or waxed) paper; grease and lightly flour the pan. Set the pan aside. Punch the dough down. Place the dough in the prepared pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double in size (30 to 40 minutes).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the dough for 30 to 35 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into the center of the bread registers 200 degrees F. If necessary, cover the top of the loaf for the last 10 to 15 minutes to prevent overbrowning.

Loosen the edges of the bread from the pan with a thin spatula. Immediately remove the bread from the pan. Peel off the parchment (or waxed) paper and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.