Chile Cheddar Bread is an excellent bread for making grilled cheese sandwiches, avocado toast or even croutons. Why use plain ol’ white bread? How boring!
https://youtube.com/shorts/k-eeIVmjNXU
Such a Bread Great Recipe!
The recipe for Chile Cheese Bread seems a little unlikely that it would work. So many added ingredients, it seems like the loaf would fail. But as you can see in my video, the bread rises beautifully.
Another aspect of this bread that I really love are the nuts added to the dough when kneading. You can use either pecans or walnuts. When making toast on a cast iron griddle, the nuts warm and toast for extra flavor. Imagine that in a grilled cheese!
I like to make a double batch of Cheddar Chile bread to put one away in the freezer. Of courtse, the bread has to be completely cooled and sliced before wrapping in plastic and freezing. But imagine a night when you don’t feel like going to the supermarket and you are uninspired. Bam! Chile Cheese Bread to the rescue.
Make a long or round loaf, or double the batch and make both!
You can make round or long loaves with this bread recipe. It depends on how you plan to use it once it is baked. If you make a large round loaf, you can quarter it and share it with friends. Up to you.
For some reason Chile Cheddar bread pairs really well with eggs. I especially like fried eggs with salsa on top of an avocado toast made with this bread recipe. The extra chile flavor is reminiscent of Santa Fe Southwestern style cuisine – rich and earthy. The bread isn’t spicy at all, but it is full of dark, chile flavor.
Pile slices of this bread with melted cheese, roasted eggplant, lentil stewof carne guisada. I can’t think of single savory dish that would not be improved with a toasty slice of Chile Cheddar Bread!
PrintChile Cheddar Bread for the best grilled cheese
- Prep Time: 2.25 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
Ingredients
2 oz dried chile ancho or guajillo (56g)
5–6 cups bread flour (625g-750g) – 110°F- 115°F (43°C- 46°C)
1 tbsp. yeast (7g)
1 tsp. salt (4g)
1 tbsp. sugar (12.5g)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (115g)
1 tbsp. tomato paste (15g)
1 cup water (240ml)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (112g)
1 tbsp. olive oil (15ml)
Instructions
Place the chile ancho in a small saucepan and fill halfway full with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 7 minutes, until the chiles are soft. Drain water and rinse chiles, allowing to cool completely. Remove the stem and seeds, rinsing away any seeds if necessary. Place the chiles in a blender with 1 cup (240ml) of fresh water. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the 4 cups of the bread flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the water and stir to form a sponge. Add the cheese, chile puree tomato paste and mix to evenly distribute throughout the flour. Stir in small amounts of the remaining flour.
Once the dough is too stiff to stir with a spoon, transfer to a clean floured surface for hand kneading or an electric mixer for machine kneading. Add small amounts of extra flour as needed so that dough is not sticky. Knead the dough for 10 minutes by hand or 4 minutes using the dough hook attachment on your electric mixer.
Coat the interior of a clean bowl with olive oil and add the kneaded dough, turning once or twice to coat the dough. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm, draft free space for 1 hour.
Brush the interior of a 5″ x 9″ (12.7cm x 23cm) bread loaf pan with olive oil. Remove the kitchen towel and punch down the dough. Shape the dough into a loaf and place in the bread loaf pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm, draft free space for 1 hour.
Preheat your oven to 400°F (204°C) for at least 15 minutes. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
Begin preheating after dough has risen 45 minutes.
Can you use all purpose flour rather than bread flour?
Hi There! Yes, of course! The texture will be more dense and less fluffy, but the flavor will be the same! Let me know how it turns out!
MG