Crusty Jalapeno Cheddar Bread

Crusty bread. Served warm with a knob of butter… I’m not sure it gets any better than that.

I am new to the bread scene. I’ve never really dabbled in the art of baking bread. Truth; It has always intimidated me. Yeast intimidates me, kneading intimidates me…

I’m easily intimidated, if you haven’t already guessed. It doesn’t take much.

But my god do I love bread. Fresh, homemade, crusty, pillowy soft, warm from the oven bread… I’ve always dreamed that one day I could produce such a thing.

A few weeks ago I decided I was going to conquer my bread fears and try my to jump on the sourdough starter train. Long story short that was an epic fail (there was a mold situation… I won’t go into detail… it’s still hard for me to talk about)Apparently I’m not cut out for keeping living things alive…

But I wasn’t ready to give up on bread completely. Yeast experimentation seemed safe, so that’s what this bread was. An experiment.

Honestly, I did not expect my first trial of this bread to be successful at all. But to my surprise it was a gem.

Chewy, crusty golden deliciousness on the outside, with a soft, fluffy inside… oh and did I mention its loaded with cheesy cheddar goodness and spicy jalepenos?

This bread means business ya’ll.

What I love most about this bread is that it requires no hard labour. Time & a little bit of patience, yes – but resting and baking time aside, actually preparing this bread takes all of about 5 minutes.

I cannot wait to take this base recipe and experiment with new flavour combinations, and I cannot wait for you all to do the same. Here’s the recipe friends.

Happy bread baking…

Crusty Jalapeno Cheddar Bread

Things you need…

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp dry active yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups warm water
1 cup cheddar cheese, cubed
1/4 cup jalapeno slices

How to make…

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, yeast, sugar and salt until combined. Stir in cheese cubes and jalapenos. Drizzle warm water over dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together into a rough, shaggy, slightly sticky dough. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the bottom of your bowl and place the dough ball back in.

It may seem wrong to leave it like this shaggy mess of a dough, but at this stage simply cover the dough bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 24 hours.

The next day, you will find your dough at least doubled in size and very bubbly. Lightly flour your hand and gently begin pulling the edges of the dough away from the side of the bowl and folding the dough in on itself 5-6 times as you work your way around the bowl, to form a rough ball of dough. Cover the bowl back up with plastic wrap and allow to sit for another 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, repeat the process above of folding the dough in on itself about 4-5 times. Cover with a tea towel and let the dough sit for another 2 hours.

When your dough is almost done its second rise, pre heat your oven to 450F. Place a large dutch oven in the oven while it pre heats.

When your oven is preheated, remove the hot dutch oven and place your dough inside. Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on and and additional 15-20 minutes with the lid off – or until the top is a glorious golden crusty brown.

Remove from the oven and turn the bread out of the dutch oven to rest on a cooling rack until it’s cooled to room temperature before slicing. (30-60 minutes)

**There may be some sticky baked cheese holding your bread in place, so you might have to stick a spatula down the edges to get it out)

**I let my bread rest for at least a good hour, otherwise it is very difficult to slice nicely, but if you want warm bread, then you can let it rest for a shorter amount of time.