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Cheddar Cheese and Black Pepper Bread

This cheddar cheese and black pepper bread might just be one of my new favorite loaves. This cheddar and black pepper bread is loaded with cheddar cheese, both in the dough, and swirled throughout the loaf.

I used a mixture of sharp white cheddar cheese and medium cheddar for this loaf, and this bread was delicious. I took half of a loaf to work and I've never seen anything disappear so fast. To quote a colleague, "I think this is my favorite bread you've made." As you can see, there's a big load of cheese in this loaf. I grated the cheese with this Microplane Coarse Grater, which made fast work of grating 8 ounces of cheese.

I kneaded half of the cheese into the dough, and then swirled the other half of the dough into the loaf the same way you might incorporate cinnamon into cinnamon bread. If you'd like more pockets of of oozing cheese, grate the cheese with this Microplane Ultra Coarse Grater or this box grater.

I can't wait to try this recipe with Asiago, Gruyére, and even smoked Gouda cheese. The bread also includes coarsely ground tellicherry black pepper in the dough, as well as more black pepper on the top of the bread.

The flavor of the pepper is not strong, but it definitely complements the cheese. You could also use crushed red pepper or mixture of herbs.

To make this bread, you will need to create a sponge the night before. You can do this by mixing a small amount of yeast, flour, and water, and letting it ferment for 6 to 24 hours at room temperature. You can also create the sponge with a sourdough starter. Just substitute about an ounce of active and bubbly sourdough starter for the yeast in the sponge in the recipe.

Note: This recipe calls for the Stretch-and-Fold method to develop gluten strength so that your bread will rise high. It involves pulling the rising dough from the sides and folding it over itself. You can see a video of Peter Reinhart demonstrating the technique in this post. While Peter does it on his work surface, I did it in the container in which my dough was rising. I will be making this Cheddar Cheese and Black Pepper Bread again and again. It's fabulous for sandwiches, toast, and especially for dipping into tomato soup. Toast it to make incredible croutons.

You can substitute a towel lined colander for the banneton or proofing basket called for in the recipe. I recommend dusting the towel with a mixture of wheat and rice flour so that the dough does not stick. Once you've shaped the dough, slash it to expose all of the cheese, which will ooze deliciously over the top of the loaf.

Love cheese in your bread? Check out the following recipes:

For even more cheese bread recipes, just use the search box in the upper right on this page.

Yield: 1 loafAuthor: Karen's Kitchen Stories 
prep time: 12 hourscook time: 35 MINStotal time: 12 hours and 35 mins


For the Sponge



Recipe adapted from Bread Illustrated: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving Bakery-Quality Results at Home. I highly recommend this book. Labels: artisan bread, black pepper, bread, cheddar, cheese bread, starter



