This Homemade Cheese Bread recipe is an easy yeast bread recipe made with simple ingredients and loaded with cheddar cheese. It’s cheesy, crusty, and tastes amazing when eaten hot with a slather of butter. or dipped into your favorite soup.
It's also the perfect bread to serve with your favorite soup. Just tear off a chunk, dip, and enjoy! For more fun and flavorful homemade bread recipes, try our Jalapeno Cheddar Bread, Rosemary Bread and Cinnamon Raisin Bread.
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Homemade Cheese Bread Recipe
What makes a great loaf of cheese bread? Soft fluffy insides, crusty outside, and plenty of cheese! Cheese always makes things better, and this easy cheddar bread recipe is beyond incredible. It makes a wonderful addition to any meal - particularly soup.
This Cheddar Bread is also super simple and very forgiving. You do not need to be a bread expert to bake a perfect loaf. Just follow our instructions and tips, and you’ll be chowing down on fresh, warm, homemade Cheddar Cheese Bread in no time.
Cheddar Cheese Bread Video Tutorial
How to Activate Yeast
There are two main types of dry yeast that you will find at the grocery store - instant yeast (or quick rise) and active dry yeast.
Without getting into too much of the science, instant yeast is specially manufactured so that it can just be dumped into your dries and mixed. Active dry yeast, on the other hand, needs to be woken up, or “proofed.”
Don’t be scared! Proofing yeast really couldn’t be more simple. All you need to do is combine your active dry yeast with warm water or milk and a touch of sugar (or honey), and let it sit for 5-10 minutes at room temperature until it starts to get nice and bubbly.
That’s it—now your yeast is awake and happy and you can use as directed in your cheese bread recipe. If the yeast never bubbles and foams, it’s likely “dead” and you will want to start over with new yeast. You’ll be happier to find that out now, rather than later!
Key Ingredients
- Water - you want your water to be warm (about 115 degrees F) in order to help “wake up” the yeast.
- Sugar - you can substitute honey if you’d like.
- Yeast - be sure and use active dry for this recipe, or else your mixing, rising and baking times will need to be adjusted.
- Milk - use whole or 2% milk for this recipe.
- Eggs - any type of large eggs will work.
- Flour - you can use all-purpose flour for this recipe. Either bleached or unbleached will work great.
- Cheddar Cheese - you can purchase shredded cheese or shred cheese on your own. If you want something a little spicy, try substituting pepper jack.
How to Make Homemade Cheese Bread
- Proof the yeast. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the warm water (approx 115 degrees), sugar and yeast. Stir until all the yeast has dissolved and let sit for about 10 minutes, or until it starts to get bubbly.
- Mix the dough. Add the warm milk, eggs, salt, and 2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture, then mix with a bread hook attachment on low for 1 minute. Add the remaining flour slowly—about ½ cup of flour at a time—until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. From there, mix on low for about 2 minutes. Add the shredded cheese and mix on low until it's fully incorporated.
- Let the dough rise. Cover the mixing bowl with a towel and let the dough rise until doubled.
- Shape the loaves. Once the dough has doubled in size, divide in two equal pieces and shape into round loaves by gently rolling and tucking the edges under.
- Let them rise again. Place the shaped dough balls onto a sheet pan, cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let the dough rise again until double, or about 30 minutes.
- Score and egg wash. After the dough has doubled in size, score the top of the cheddar cheese loaves with a knife or scoring tool. In a small bowl, add the egg and water and whisk to combine, then brush the egg wash lightly over the top and sides of each loaf.
- Bake. Bake in a preheated degree oven for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown on top. If the bread begins to brown too quickly, cover the loaves loosely with aluminum foil and continue to bake until 40 minutes is up.
- Cool. Remove from the oven and transfer the loaves to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Replacing the water in your bread recipe with milk will produce a more tender and sweet finished product. The sugars in the milk are not “eaten” by the yeast, so they are left to add a subtle sweetness.
The proteins and sugars in the milk will also help the bread brown a bit more, adding nice color and flavor.
In a preheated 350 degree oven, your Cheddar Bread should take between 30-40 minutes to bake. The actual baking times depends on the size of your loaf, your individual oven, and how much you are baking at once.
Cheddar Bread Tips
- You can use any type of cheddar cheese that you’d like for this Rustic Cheddar Cheese Bread. We’ll often use a fiesta blend, but you can also choose from sharp cheddar, white cheddar, smoked cheddar or whatever you happened to have on hand. You could also add in some extra non-cheddar cheeses, such as Parmesan cheese or mozzarella cheese.
- You can shape this into 2 circle loaves, bake in 2 loaf pans or even make small individual rolls. However, if you want to shape it is up to you! Just remember that the smaller the bread, the quicker it will bake.
- For an even more savory treat, try adding 1 tablespoon of minced garlic or garlic powder to the dough. Mmm… garlic cheesy bread!
- Add diced chiles or jalapenos for a fun spicy twist.
- Make this cheddar dough into breadsticks or bread twists. Brush garlic butter on before baking.
Cheddar Cheese Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1½ cups Warm Water around 115 degrees F
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar can substitute honey
- 1½ Tablespoons Active Dry Yeast
- 1 cup Milk around 115 degrees F
- 2 large Eggs
- 1½ Tablespoons Salt
- 6-6½ cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 cups Cheddar Cheese shredded
Egg Wash Mixture
- 1 large Egg
- 1 Tablespoon Water
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the warm water (approx 115 degrees), sugar and yeast. Stir until all the yeast has dissolved and let sit for about 10 minutes, or until it starts to get bubbly.
- Add the warm milk, eggs, salt and 2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture, then mix with a bread hook attachment on low for 1 minute. Add the remaining 4 - 4 ½ cups of flour slowly, adding about ½ cup of flour at a time until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
- When the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl, stop adding flour and continue to mix on low for about 2 minutes. Add the shredded cheese and mix on low until it's fully incorporated. If it starts sticking again, add a little more flour.
- Cover the mixing bowl with a towel and let the dough rise until double, or about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, divide in two equal pieces and shape into round loaves by gently rolling and tucking the edges under. Place the shaped dough balls onto a sheet pan, cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let the dough rise again until double, or about 30 minutes.
- After the dough has doubled in size, score the top of the cheddar cheese loaves with a knife or scoring tool. In a small bowl, add the egg and water and whisk to combine, then brush the egg wash lightly over the top and sides of each loaf.
- Bake in a preheated degree oven for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown on top. If the bread begins to brown too quickly, cover the loaves loosely with aluminum foil and continue to bake until 40 minutes is up.
- Remove from the oven and transfer the loaves to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
Nutrition
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This Rustic Cheddar Cheese Bread Recipe is an easy rustic bread recipe that can be made into a circle loaf, bread pan loaf, or rolls. It's made with simple ingredients and is a delicious bread recipe.
Carol CW
can I refrigerator dough overnight before baking???
Jill Baird
You bet! I'd shape the loaves when you take them out of the fridge in the morning. If you wait until the dough comes to room temp, it'll be easier to manage.
Summer A
I made this bread tonight n cut the recipe in half. Super delicious!! 2nd recipe of yours I have tried. Excited to try many more!! Thanks for the yummy recipe!!
Jill Baird
Hooray! I'm so happy you found me! I can't wait to hear what you try next!
Sherri
Hi!
I made this recipe as circle loaves, so good! We all really enjoyed it. Simple ingredients I usually have on hand and easy to follow recipe. These didn't last very long!
I was wondering what the baking time would be if I baked this recipe in loaf pans instead of on a cookie sheet as circle loaves?
Thanks for any advice you have!
Jill Baird
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Once your loaves have doubled in size, bake for 28-30 minutes, or until golden brown (an instant-read thermometer should read 195 degrees F when inserted into the center of your loaves).
Cindy
I just made the cheddar cheese bread and it's yummy. I do think it's a little salty and I had to double check the recipe to make sure it does actually call for 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt. Thanks for this recipe.
Brittany
Is it really 1.5 tablespoons of salt or should it be tsp?
Thank you!