Cheddar Cheese Soda Bread

Today I have a savory and cheesy bread that gets done in about an hour and goes well with soups. It has been a little chilly for the past few days and I decided to make some soup and a quick bread for dinner. When I found this recipe on King Arthur flour’s site, I thought it would go perfectly with my red lentil and tomato soup. 

If you are wondering what is the difference between soda bread and regular bread (like I did when I saw the recipe), soda breads utilize the reaction between baking soda and buttermilk to leavening instead of yeast. 

Recipe adapted from King Arthur flour site.

Ingredients: 

All-purpose flour – 1¼ cups

Whole-wheat flour – 1¼ cups 

Baking powder – 2tsp 

Baking soda – 1tsp 

Salt – ½ tsp 

Butter, Cold – 4tbsp, cut into tabs 

Buttermilk – 1¼ cups 

Cheddar cheese – 2cups, grated 

Egg – 1, large 

 

Method: 

• Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease an 8” square or 9” round pan. 
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the cold butter and rub into the flour mixture until mixture is crumbly. Mix in the cheese. 
• Combine buttermilk and egg in a measuring cup and add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until everything is moistened.
• Transfer this very sticky dough into the prepared pan. Use wet fingers to spread the batter around in the pan. 
• Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean. 
• Remove the bread from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before turning it over onto the cooling rack. Wait for at least 20 minutes before slicing to avoid crumbling of the bread. 

The next time I make this bread, I’ll probably add some cayenne and green onions to give some more flavor boost. I thin it can be easily made egg less. Also any melting cheese would be good in the bread, but the taste might be different. All in all it is a very delicious bread.

 

Let's check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up for Day 5 of BM# 15.