Swiss Cheese Potato Bread

Equipment: One 8″ tube pan (angel food, bundt, or guegelhupf),
greased or Teflon; 1 baking sheet.
By Hand or Mixer: Measure 1 1/2 cups flour into a large mixing or
mixer bowl and stir in the yeast, sugar, salt, potato flakes, and hot
water. Beat by hand 30 strong strokes, or for 1 minute in the mixer.
Add the melted butter or margarine, eggs, and Swiss cheese. Beat by
hand 100 strokes, or for 2 minutes with the mixer turned to high.
Stop the mixer. Stir in the balance of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time,
first with the spoon and then by hand, or with the mixer flat beater
and then dough hook. The dough will be a rough, shaggy mass that
will clean the sides of the bowl. However, if it continues to be
slack (wet), add small portions of flour. Kneading (8 minutes): Turn
the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead with the
rhythmic motion of push-turn-fold. Add light sprinkles of flour if
necessary. In the mixer, with the dough hook, the dough will
completely clean the sides of the bowl and form a ball around the
revolving hook. The dough will be smooth and elastic. Knead by hand
or mixer for 8 minutes.
First Rising (1 hour): Place the dough in a greased mixing bowl and
pat with buttered or greased fingers. Cover the bowl tightly with
plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until the dough has
doubled in volume, about 1 hour. (If prepared with a new fast-rising
yeast and at the recommended higher temperatures, reduce the rising
times by about half.) Shaping (6 minutes): Punch down the dough,
turn it onto the floured work surface, and let it rest for 2 minutes.
It can be shaped in one of two ways. One is to roll it under your
palms to about 20 inches in length. Lay the length of dough in the
prepared pan. Overlap the ends slightly and pinch together. Or,
flatten the ball of dough and, with your fingers, punch a hole in the
center and widen this to slip over the tube. Either way, push the
dough firmly into the bottom of the pan. Second rising (45 minutes):
Cover the pan with a length of foil or wax paper and let rise until
the dough has doubled in volume, 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375
degrees 20 minutes before baking. (If using a convection oven,
reduce heat by 50 degrees.) Place the pan in the moderate oven.
Bake until a metal skewer inserted in the center of the loaf comes
out clean and dry, about 45 minutes. Ten minutes before the baking
is done, carefully turn the loaf out of the pan onto a baking sheet.
Return to the oven. This will give the loaf a lovely overall brown
that it would not otherwise have. But handle it carefully. It is
fragile when hot. Take the bread from the oven. Slide the loaf off
the baking sheet onto a metal rack to cool before slicing.