Cheese Bread Loaf Recipe

Introduction

If there were ever a perfect union between two things it would be cheese and bread.

Cheese on most things taste great, but especially so on bread.

Ever since I was small, I’ve always enjoyed eating cheese bread loafs that my local bakery sold.

There were soft, savoury, but most importantly, super cheesy!

However, not all good things last forever, and my local bakery bit the dust during the pandemic.

That’s why I set out on a journey to develop the cheesiest cheese bread loaf recipe out there, one that anyone with an oven, and some key ingredients could make.

This cheese bread loaf recipe is super soft, moist, and extremely cheesy.

If you love cheese, then you won’t be disappointed as each bite will leave you with a mouthful of cheese.

It also keeps well for days, however I don’t think the bread will be around for long though, as I certainly have a very difficult time not wanting to wolf the whole thing down in one go.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this cheese bread.

Ingredients

Tangzhong:

100ml of water

20g of bread flour

Dough:

Bread flour 260g

White Sugar 40g

Salt ¼ tsp

Instant Yeast 5g

Milk powder 6g

Milk 70 ml

1 egg (room temperature)

Unsalted Butter 50g

Shredded cheddar cheese 250g

1/2 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp Melted butter for glaze (optional)

Directions

To get that super soft and moist texture that we want, we’ll start by making a Tangzhong, which is a water roux.

In a small sauce pan, add in your bread flour + water.

Heat the mixture over low heat while constantly stirring it until you achieve a thick viscous-like texture.

Then transfer the Tangzhong to a small bowl or dish, cover it with plastic wrap and let it cool in the fridge for at least 20-30 minutes.

Once the Tangzhong has cooled down, we can make our dough.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your bread flour, sugar, salt, instant yeast, milk powder, an egg, the Tangzhong from earlier.

Turn on your stand mixer and give it a few quick whisks, then slowly add in your milk while the stand mixer is running.

Continuing mixing everything for another 3-4 minutes then add in your butter.

Afterwards continue mixing for another 9-10 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and gluten has started to form.

To test and see if your dough has been sufficiently kneaded, take out a small piece of the dough and stretch it out until you can start to see light pass through it and the dough is somewhat translucent. If the dough does not tear while you are stretching it out then it has been sufficiently kneaded. If on the other hand it tears, you will need to continue kneading it.

Once the dough has been sufficiently kneaded, transfer it to a greased large bowl, shape it into a round ball using a spatula or your hands and then cover it with plastic wrap or a towel and let it proof in a warm place until double in size, about an hour or so.

Once the dough has finished proofing, de-gase the dough by punching down on it and transfer it to a floured countertop.

Now shape the dough into a round ball and then cover it with plastic wrap or a towel and let it rest for 10-15 minutes to relax the dough.

After 10-15 minutes, add a bit of flour to the dough and then flatten and roll out the dough into a large rectangle.

Now add in your cheese to the dough, but save about 80-85% of the cheese for later. We will use this to sprinkle on top of the bread later when baking.

Once your done laying down the cheese, roll the dough from one end to the other end so that it resembles a log.

Pinch the ends and sides of the dough to seal the dough.

Now make a cut in the middle of the dough all the way to the end and then wrap each piece of the dough over the over in a figure 8 formation.

Make sure to tuck the ends of the dough inwards underneath the dough to seal it as well.

Transfer the dough to a bread loaf pan and cover it with plastic wrap or a towel. You make opt to either grease the pan or insert parchment paper to make it easier to remove the bread once you’re finished baking the bread.

I’m using a 9″ x 5″ bread loaf pan.

Now let the dough rise in a warm place for about 40-45 minutes.

Let’s make the egg wash in the meantime.

Beat an egg and a tsp of milk together to make the egg wash.

While the dough is proofing, preheat your oven to 350°F/ (180°C).

Once the dough has finished proofing, applying the egg wash to the top of the dough and then sprinkle on top the left over cheese from earlier.

Finally, sprinkle on some dried parsley to the dough.

Bake the bread at 350°F (180°C) for 25-30 minutes.

Optional: brush on some melted butter to the bread

Notes:

This is a sticky dough and therefore it is recommended to use a stand mixer for kneading the dough.