Cheddar Cheese Bread

You may not know this, since I tend to post recipes that are of the dessert variety on here, but I love me some cheese. Cheese plus bread = basically my heaven.

Well, let's be honest, my heaven would probably also include some cookies. And some macaroni and cheese (cheese again!), and some tator tots, and some ice cream, and some... okay okay. But you kind of see a theme, I guess. Carbs and dairy! Yes!

This is why gluten free and dairy free diets scare me. SCARY.

One thing I want to tell you about this recipe right now: use sharp cheddar! The sharper, the better. You may think, man, sharp cheddar is too intense, I can't take it! But in a bread like this, it's perfection. DO IT! I command thee! I mean, you don't have to, but you'll guaranteed regret it if you don't. Just sayin'.

Cheddar Cheese Bread

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 5 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely shredded
• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease two 5x9 inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. Then, using your fingers, mix in 2 Tbsp butter into the flour mix until well incorporated. This will take a few minutes and some work, and it should come out looking kind of like sand. Add in the cheese and toss to coat. Add in the buttermilk and stir until the dough just comes together. Divide evenly between the pans and smooth the tops.
2. Cut a shallow cross all the way across the tops of the loaves. Thinly slice the remaining 1 Tbsp of butter and place the slices into the cuts in each loaf. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is browned and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Recipe via Shutterbean

In photos:

Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda in a large bowl, then add in the butter, mixing in with your fingers. I didn't take a photo of the flour just by itself because, I guess, boring!

Add in the 5 ounces of shredded sharp cheddar cheese (seriously, use sharp!), mixing to coat.

Mix in the buttermilk until just combined.

Distribute between your two bread pans evenly. If you're like me, yours don't match. No big.

Slice the bread length and width-wise all the way, then stick in your sliced up Tbsp of butter and put those in the slices in the center area, like so. If you're like me, you'll take a slightly blurry photo and not notice until too late. Sorry!

Bake those up in the center rack of your 400F oven for 25-30 minutes, until the top is slightly browned, and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Let them rest in the pans for at least 30 minutes before you cut into them, no matter how hard it seems.

 Once cooled, take out of the pan and get ready to slice 'er up!

Yum! And you can totally freeze the second loaf, too, if you don't want two loaves for yourself at once!