Rosemary Cheddar Bread, sliced

Rosemary Cheddar Bread

In Recipes by Sean7 Comments

Rosemary Cheddar Bread
Rosemary Cheddar Bread

Rosemary Cheddar Bread

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Easy bread is great. Cheesy bread is great. Easy cheesy bread? Well now we're talking.

Do you have a stand mixer? Then congratulations, you're about to have delicious bread with virtually zero effort. No stand mixer? No worries - you'll have to do a tiny bit more work, but your bread's going to be every bit as tasty.  Bonus - rosemary and cheddar work beautiful in this quick and simple bread, but the base recipe is also highly adaptable!

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This recipe for rosemary cheddar bread was born of necessity. The necessity in question is my overwhelming desire to buy every crispy-cheese-covered loaf of bread I encounter. Seriously, how is anyone supposed to resist that overpriced cheesy goodness? Well, now I don't have to resist, because I can whip this bread up literally any time - and so can you.

This is very simple bread recipe to put together, and I've made it a LOT, so I can assure you that it's well tested.  Still, every oven is different, and baking is a fickle mistress, so I'll include some tips and trouble-shooting in the recipe notes below.  I've also included some notes on ingredient variations, flour types, and how you can use the bread.  Enjoy, my friends.

Rosemary Cheddar Bread loaf

Recipe Notes

If you're already a fairly experienced bread baker, this recipe is going to be a cinch. In fact, you can probably jump right to the recipe card itself and get started - though you may want to skim the notes on variations.

One general note: as with pretty much all bread recipes, this is easier and more consistent if you measure by weight, rather than volume.  I highly recommend a small digital kitchen scale to make your life easier.

Yeast & Starters

I generally make this bread with instant yeast. You can also use active dry yeast, but you'll need to proof it for 15-20 minutes in warm water first. I haven't tested fresh yeast, but the general substitution for fresh yeast (3:1 by weight) should work fine. In this case, that works out to about 34 grams (1.2 oz) of fresh yeast. This is the equivalent of one small block of fresh yeast (17 g/0.6 oz size).

I make a fair bit of bread (usually this one, honestly), so I buy jarred yeast and keep it in the fridge.  This makes it easy to measure out arbitrary quantities.  If you're using yeast packets however, you're stuck dealing with the fact that a single packet works out to 2 ¼ teaspoons.  The difference here is actually pretty negligible, so feel free to use the whole packet.  Alternatively, use a half packet and a longer rise time (see the next paragraph).  Either way, make sure to keep an eye on how quickly your bread rises.

If you're low on yeast (or long on time), you can reduce the quantity used in this recipe to 1 teaspoon and allow for a longer rise time (approximately double).  I've done this on a number of occasions and I haven't noticed any real difference in the finished bread.

If you're big on sourdough baking, you shouldn't have a lot of trouble adapting this recipe.  That being said, I can really only give you a jumping-off point here, as it's difficult to give perfect directions for converting a recipe to sourdough.  1 cup of starter should be a sufficient substitute for the yeast in this recipe, but you'll have to reduce the flour and water quantities as well.  How much you reduce these by is going to depend on the hydration level of your starter.  If you know the hydration of your starter, no problem.  If you don't, you'll have to experiment a little.  I recommend removing about 125 grams of flour and 100 ml of water from the recipe as a starting point.  Adjust as needed to get firm (not shaggy) dough.  Sourdough bread will also require longer rising and proofing times than yeast breads.

Flour Types

I generally make this bread with all-purpose flour and some whole wheat flour, as shown in the recipe card.  You can absolutely use bread flour in place of the AP flour.  As I have mentioned before, Canadian all-purpose flour tends to be pretty high in protein, making it well suited to bread.  This is by no means universal however, and the protein content of any given AP flour can be somewhat variable.  If you're concerned that your AP flour might be a little too soft (low-protein) and you don't have bread flour, you can add 1-2 teaspoons of vital wheat gluten to your AP flour to create high-protein bread flour.  Vital wheat gluten can be found at bulk and health food stores, and some grocery stores.

You can also vary the ratios of flour used in the recipe.  For more on this, see the Variations section below.

Rosemary Cheddar Bread slices on a plate

Stand Mixer

If you have a stand mixer, then you'll find that this rosemary cheddar bread is about as hands-off as a bread recipe can be. Dry ingredients into bowl, add water slowly while mixing with the dough hook, and knead until the dough forms a tight ball. At most, you might need to gently nudge some of the dry ingredients down from the sides of the bowl.

So, what if you don't have a stand mixer?  No worries.  There's nothing complex about this dough that would prevent you from using a hand mixer (again, with dough hooks) or your hands.  Hand mixing will obviously take longer, and you'll want to knead the dough on a lightly floured surface.  As with the stand mixer, the dough is finished when it forms a fairly tight ball.  I do find that this dough is just a touch sticky, so try rubbing a little olive oil into your hands before you get into the more serious kneading stages.  This will help keep the dough from sticking to you without requiring a bunch of additional flour.

Other Baking Gear

Rosemary cheddar bread is great for novice bakers, but I will freely admit that there are a handful of kitchen tools that make it easier and more consistent.  As I mentioned at the beginning of the recipe notes, this bread (and indeed all bread) is way easier to make if you have a kitchen scale.  Volumes of flour are inconsistent at best, and a scale means not having to bother with fractional measurements.  The recipe does include both volume and weight measurements, but I strongly encourage you to use the latter if you are able.

I like to use a pizza stone when I bake, as it helps to keep my oven temperature even, and it helps give my bread a crispy crust.  If you don't have one, you can put cast iron pans in your oven to help regulate the temperature, and you can bake the bread in a hot pan or casserole (think Le Creuset style pots).  This does limit your bread shaping options a bit (see below), but it makes great bread.

Finally, you want to be able to score the surface of your bread.  I'm an ardent aficionado of safety razors (for my face, that is), so I simply set aside a safety razor blade in a container in the pantry for this express purpose.  You can buy safety razor blades from baking specialty stores too, but it's probably cheaper to seek out a small pack of them online or at a drug store.  Be careful with them though, as they are incredibly sharp.  If you don't have a razor blade, use a very thin, very sharp knife. Be warned - a dull knife will drag through the dough, rather than cleanly slice it.

Shaping & Size

I generally form this dough into either a simple boule or an fat oval loaf. After turning the dough out onto a surface (I use a silicone baking sheet), I gather the edges of the dough one-at-a-time and tuck them into the center/top to shape and stretch the dough, then flip it so the seam is down.

This is a pretty sizeable loaf of bread, and you can most definitely split it into two smaller loaves, shaped the same way.  You can also shape them into longer, thinner loaves.

This bread also bakes well in a pan (especially a silicone one, but a greased metal tin will do), but once again we need to consider the size.  Unless you have a monster-sized bread pan, this amount of dough is probably going to overflow badly.

Rosemary Cheddar Bread slices on a plate

Variations

Now, this may be odd to say about 'rosemary cheddar' bread, but you can actually make this without rosemary... or without cheddar.  Omissions and substitutions are easy to manage, and the options are diverse.

I've made this with and without rosemary many times, and it's great both ways. If you don't have fresh rosemary and you just want to make a nice cheese bread, it'll work wonderfully. I don't use dried rosemary here because a) it tastes stronger, and b) it's often very hard, and I hate getting a dry rosemary needle in my mouth. That being said, if you really don't want to skip out on the rosemary flavour but dried is all you have, you can substitute about 1/2 tsp of finely ground dried rosemary.

I generally use an old/sharp cheddar for this - nothing wildly expensive, but something with enough flavour to come through in the baked bread.  Any number of flavourful aged cheeses will also work nicely here - think gouda, Emmental, gruyere, hard Italian cheeses, or some combination of these.

You can also consider adding other ingredients to this base loaf to create a little more diversity.  Oregano and garlic would go beautifully with the rosemary and cheddar - or on their own!

Finally, a word about flour ratios.  I've tested quite a few different blends and I'm fond of the 3:1 white/whole-wheat ratio given in the recipe.  You can go with all white flour too - though honestly, I don't find the impact on the flavour worth the loss of nutrients and the increase in glycemic index.  I personally wouldn't go past a 1:1 ratio of whole wheat and white as it makes the bread a bit denser and earthier than I like, plus it increases your rising/proofing times quite a bit.  I haven't tried this bread with whole grain or alternative grain flours (e.g. rye and spelt), but if you're familiar with working with these, I don't think it would be difficult to work them into this recipe.  If you want a sneaky way to make this bread a little healthier with very little effort, try adding ~1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds.

Rosemary Cheddar Bread slices on a plate
Note: Nutritional Information is given for a single 50 gram slice of rosemary cheddar bread (1/20th portion of the total recipe).
Nutrition Facts
Rosemary Cheddar Bread
Amount Per Serving
Calories 127 Calories from Fat 18
% Daily Value*
Fat 2g3%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 1g
Cholesterol 4mg1%
Sodium 201mg9%
Potassium 66mg2%
Carbohydrates 23g8%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 1g1%
Protein 5g10%
Vitamin A 38IU1%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 34mg3%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutritional Summary

GOOD NEWS:

You don't need all that much cheese to make this, so the bread stays mercifully low in fat. It's also lower in sodium than most store-bought breads are going to be.

BAD NEWS:

It's bread, so it's almost entirely calories via carbohydrates. No surprises really.

TRIM IT DOWN:

It's difficult to make any meaningful impact on the nutritional breakdown of bread, but you can add ground flax for Omega-3 fatty acids, and you can increase the whole wheat ratio somewhat for improved nutrient content.

Ingredient & Pantry Pages

No ingredient or pantry pages have been written yet for any of the components of this recipe.  Like to see one?  Let me know in the comments below or by email.

Categories

Rosemary Cheddar Bread, sliced
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5 from 7 votes

Rosemary Cheddar Bread

This simple yeast-based bread is easy for even the most novice of bakers to make, and wonderfully flavourful. Easiest to make if you have a stand-mixer, but doable by hand as well.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Resting Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time2 hours 15 minutes
Course: Breakfast, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine: British, Canadian, European, Miscellaneous
Keyword: cheddar cheese bread, cheesy bread, easy bread recipe
Servings: 20 slices
Calories: 127kcal

Ingredients

  • 450 g all purpose flour or bread flour (see note)
  • 150 g whole wheat flour
  • 450 ml water at room temperature
  • 2 tsp instant yeast (see note for alternatives)
  • 9 g salt
  • 75 g cheddar cheese plus a little more for the top
  • 1 tsp fresh rosemary minced
  • olive oil

Instructions

  • Combine the dry ingredients, cheese, and rosemary in a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. (See note below for hand-kneading instructions).
  • Turn your mixer on to a relatively low setting and add the water a little bit at a time. Once all the water has been added, increase the speed of the mixer slightly. Allow the mixer to knead the dough until nearly all of the dry flour has been incorporated and the dough forms solid ball.
    If after about 2 minutes your dough is still a little shaggy or some of the flour won't incorporate, add 1 tsp of water. Repeat as necessary.
  • Coat the sides of a large bowl with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl, then cover and set aside. Allow the bread to proof until doubled (approximately 1 hour, though this may vary depending on temperature, etc.).
  • Transfer the dough to a silicone baking sheet (my preference) or lightly floured baking sheet.
  • Imagining your dough as a square, stretch each of the four sides up and into the center of the dough one at a time to form a tight ball. Pinch the newly formed central seam together, then flip the dough over so the seam side is down.
  • Shape the ball of dough into your desired shape. I usually do a long oval, but you can do a round boule, etc,
  • Proof the dough for an additional 20-30 minutes.
  • Preheat your oven to 450°F (232°C), with a rack in the lower third. If you have a pizza/bread stone, I recommend using it.
  • Using a razor or very sharp knife, score the surface of the bread. Sprinkle the extra cheddar cheese over the loaf.
  • Transfer the dough to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the outside is a golden brown. Cool finished loaf on a rack for ~1 hour before slicing.

Notes

Flour Note - I use white and whole wheat all-purpose flours.  You can use bread flours, or add ~ 1-2 tsp of vital wheat gluten to all purposes flours if you're concerned your flour is too soft (i.e. low in protein).
Yeast Note - I generally use instant yeast, but active dry works just as well.  You will need to proof active dry yeast in warm water before using it, so take this into account.
Rosemary - You can omit the rosemary if you like.  You can also substitute 1/2 the quantity of dried rosemary, but I recommend grinding or very finely chopping it, as it can be quite hard and unpleasant in soft bread.
Cheese Variations - I use a strong/old cheddar, but you can use other relatively dry and sharp cheeses as well.  Consider gouda, Emmental, Italian hard cheeses, etc.
Hand-Kneading - If you don't have a stand mixer, you can hand-knead this bread.  It can be a little sticky, so I recommend oiling your hands with a bit of olive oil before kneading.

Nutrition

Calories: 127kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 201mg | Potassium: 66mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 38IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 1mg

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Rosemary and Cheddar are two ingredients I always have on hand. So really, there’s no excuse for not baking a loaf of this bread every day is there? I can’t resist a loaf with great textures and flavours…and this bread has it all.

  2. 5 stars
    Rosemary and aged cheddar cheese and warm bread in the oven–can you imagine how my kitchen smells now? Had to stop and thank you for the tip on using a razor blade!

  3. 5 stars
    Cheesy and easy definitely caught my eye! Cheddar and rosemary are always a delicious combo and this bread has the perfect texture and crumb. A beautiful loaf!

  4. 5 stars
    This bread turned out deliciously. Really enjoyed the addition of cheddar. Made for the perfect side to a soup on a cool evening.

  5. 5 stars
    I never make bread by hand because I was gifted a bread machine very early on in my adult life (and I have bad wrists and can’t knead). But this one is a game changer! My stand mixer has been itching for some action, so I’m pinning to make this weekend! 🙂

  6. Made this bread a few days ago. It has an awesome flavor and made for a wonderful toasted ham/turkey cheddar sandwich. All flavors played well together and had a giant party in my mouth.

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