Cheddar Chive Sourdough Bread

This cheddar chive bread is delicious for sandwiches, with spaghetti or ravioli for dipping, and for breakfast toast topped with fried or poached eggs. 

This recipe makes three 1 1/2 pound loaves of bread, but is easily scalable. If you decide to make all three loaves, just wrap the extra loaves in foil and then plastic wrap, and freeze them for up to 30 days.

This dough also makes amazing dinner rolls.

I love cheesy bread, including jalapeño cheese bread with corn, gruyère cheese bread, and dill and white cheddar sourdough bread. 

This bread is leavened with a liquid (100 percent hydration) sourdough starter as well as instant yeast. 

This bread also includes corn flour, which adds a color and crunch, especially when the bread is toasted.

The chives actually came from a neglected pot hanging on our back fence. They seem to be fairly indestructible. I walk out there, cut off a handful, and they regenerate in a few days. Granted, I live in a temperate climate....

And then there's the cheese. There is a ton of cheese in this bread. In fact, it was really hard not to keep the cheese from popping out of the dough!

I used a combination of English style sharp white cheddar cheese, and extra sharp cheddar cheese. It's like a ready made grilled cheese sandwich in a slice. Just try to get all of this cheese to stay in the dough.

This bread is made completely by hand, no mixer required. It's so amazingly tasty. 

Ingredients you will need for this cheddar chive bread:

First, you will need a liquid sourdough starter. What that means is a starter that is 100 percent hydration. 

You will also need bread flour and corn flour. and water.

In addition, you'll need some extra virgin olive oil, salt, and instant yeast. 

Finally, you will need lots of cheddar cheese and chives. 

This bread is crusty and chewy. It's delicious toasted and buttered. I've actually used it for tuna melts with success. It's that veratile. 

Plus, who doesn't love toasty cheese? 

This week the Dinner Table group is celebrating National Cheese Day, which is June 4. We are all posting recipes where cheese is the star of our dish. 

I'm excited to share this cheesy bread recipe. 

Get More Cheesy Recipes:

• • Cheesy Stuffed Air Fryer Wontons from The Freshman Cook
  • Cucumber Tea Sandwiches with Cream Cheese from Art of Natural Living
  • Double Cheese Stuffed Crust Taco Pizza from Magical Ingredients
  • Instant Pot Cheesy Hamburger Helperfrom Cheese Curd in Paradise
  • Keto Everything Bagel Cheese Crisps from Blogghetti
  • Malai - Romanian Cheese Filled Cornbread from Pandemonium Noshery
  • The Best Triple Flavor Instant Pot Cheesecake:  Three Cheesecakes in One from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
  • Welsh Rarebit from That Recipe

• We share Recipes From Our Dinner Table! Join our group and share your recipes, too! While you're at it, follow our Pinterest board, too!

This recipe was adapted from the book, Baking by Hand: Make the Best Artusanal Breads and Pastries Better without a Mixer. I received a copy as a promotion. All opinions are my own. It's an amazing book that teaches you how to make bread and pastries completely by hand... no mixer or food processor required. 

I first posted this recipe in April, 2015. This post includes updated photos, instructions, as well as a printable recipe card. 

Cheddar Chive Sourdough Bread

Yield: 45 servings

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

This cheddar chive bread is delicious for sandwiches, with spaghetti or ravioli for dipping, and for breakfast toast topped with fried or poached eggs.

Ingredients

For the Starter

• 8 oz (240 ml) 75 degree F water
• 10 oz (280 g) bread flour
• 2 oz (40 ml) sourdough starter

For the Final Dough

• 2 pounds 1/2 ounce (1 kg) bread flour
• 4 oz (110 g) corn flour
• 8 oz (230 g) of the starter (there will be some left over to grow more for later)
• 21 1/2 oz (610 ml) 90 degree F water
• 2 oz (60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 3 1/4 tsp (25 g) salt
• 1 1/4 tsp (5 g) instant yeast
• 5 oz (300 g) sharp cheddar cheese, cut into small squares
• 1 handful of chives, finely sliced

Instructions

1. The night before baking the bread, mix the final starter ingredients, cover, and let sit for about 12 hours.
2. On baking day, mix the bread and corn flour in a large bowl.
3. In another large bowl, mix the starter, water, and olive oil.
4. Pour the flour mixture over the liquid mixture, and stir and mix with your hands for about a minute, making sure to get all of the flour wet. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot (about 80 degrees F) for 30 minutes. I placed mine in the microwave with to cups of boiled water sitting in the corners to create a warm spot.
5. Sprinkle the salt and yeast over the dough and begin mixing with your hands by folding the dough and pinching it with your fingers to incorporate the salt and yeast. As you work with the dough for about a minute, you should feel the dough coming together.
6. Add in the cheese and chives by stretching the dough out and folding in over itself, turning the bowl, and repeating several times. Cover with plastic wrap and return it to the warm spot for 30 minutes.
7. After 30 minutes, do a "stretch and fold" from all four sides of the bowl. The dough should begin to feel stronger as you do this. Repeat two more times, every 30 minutes. Let the dough rise for 30 minutes more, until puffy.
8. Divide your dough into three equal pieces of about 1 pound 10 ounces each. Shape them into loose balls, place them seam side down on the counter, and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 20 minutes.
9. Dust three bannetons or towel lined 9 inch bowls with corn flour.
10. Gently shape the dough one more time and place them seam side up in the prepared bannetons.
11. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot to proof for about an hour.
12. Preheat the oven (with a baking stone if you have one) to 450 degrees F. Place a pan on the lowest rack. Boil one cup of water.
13. Turn the loaves out onto a parchment lined peel or baking sheet. Place them in the oven, add the boiling water to the steam pan on the lowest rack. Cover your oven's window while you do this. Close the door. Note: if your oven is too small for all three loaves, you can bake the loaves in shifts.
14. After 5 minutes, open the oven door and spray the walls of the oven with water. Quickly close the door.
15. Bake the loaves for another 25 minutes, until the interior of the bread reaches about 200 degrees F.
16. Cool on a wire rack.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

61.20

Fat (grams)

2.58

Sat. Fat (grams)

0.82

Carbs (grams)

7.56

Fiber (grams)

0.43

Net carbs

7.12

Sugar (grams)

0.13

Protein (grams)

1.95

Sodium (milligrams)

230.96

Cholesterol (grams)

3.12

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2015/04/cheddar-chive-bread-twelveloaves.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

Bread, cheese, sourdough

Bread

American

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @karenskitchenstories.com on instagram and hashtag it #karenskitchenstories

Created using The Recipes Generator