We interrupt our regular January schedule of veggie-filled, vegan, gluten-free or otherwise generally very healthy food to bring you this: cheesy, carbohydrate happiness.
Hey, if my waistline is going to keep expanding anyway, I may as well lean in every once in a while.
What better to indulge with than a slice of fluffy, cheesy, oniony bread… unnnnnff.
This is the kind of bread that is so good, it needs no accompaniment to be enjoyed. Sure, you can dip it in soup or make a sandwich out of it (I encourage both), but if you’re in a rush, it’s also good all on its lonesome. No butter required to make this slice sing! Gently crispy exterior, light, fluffy middle.
The onions in this recipe are properly caramelized- no short cuts this time. The results are easy, but time consuming, but I promise they are worth the effort. Sweet, flavourful, melt-in-your-mouth. I knead the caramelized onions directly into the dough in this recipe, so the entire loaf is lightly fragrant, without falling apart when it is sliced.
Cheese, of course, because in my humble opinion, cheese makes almost anything better. It doesn’t hurt that cheddar and onion is such a classic combination, you might say they pair together like… peanut butter and pickles. No? No one else really digs that combo? Fine. Peanut butter and jelly.
(But you don’t know what you’re missing if you don’t try peanut butter and pickles on toast.)
Honestly, with all the soups I’ve been making as of late (see here and here), it’s surprising how long it took me to remember ‘dipping things in soup is the best.’
In fact… oh my god. I just realized what soup would pair perfectly with this. This soup was MADE for this bread. Slow-Roasted Tomato and Caramelized Onion Soup.
Wow. Just imagining that combo is making my mouth water. Like… I don’t want to call in sick to work today, but also… this seems like kind of a personal emergency? A food emergency?
Fine. I’ll go to work. But I really do need to make some of that soup- and soon- before I finish the rest of this bread. Otherwise, I’ll end up making the soup and having no bread left and then having to make more bread, and then make more soup and then… you know what? Nevermind. I’m totally okay with this neverending Slow-Roasted Soup and Cheddar Onion Bread scenario. It sounds amazing.
| Caramelized Onion Cheddar Bread | | Print |
- 2¼ tsp active dry yeast
- 1⅓ cup warm water
- 1 tsp sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 cups flour
- 2 onions, finely sliced
- 3 cups cheddar cheese, grated
- 2 tsp fresh thyme or rosemary (optional)
- Heat a glug of olive oil in a medium frying pan and add sliced onions. Cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes until softened and then reduce the heat to low or med-low (depending on how hot your element is) and cook for an additional 45 minutes, until sweet and golden. Yep. 45 minutes. We're not taking short-cuts with this one, we're actually 'caramelizing' these onions.
- In a large bowl, add yeast, sugar and warm water. Leave 3-4 minutes until foamy. Add milk, olive oil, salt, caramelized onions and 4 cups of flour and mix together until a dough forms. If the dough is a little sticky, continue to dust with the remaining cup of flour. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. I love using my stand mixer for this with the dough hook attached, but kneading by hand is just as effective (and a great arm workout).
- Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise until doubled in size. Depending on the warmth of the room, this could take anywhere from 1-2 hours. If you have time for a slow rise, place the dough in the fridge overnight.
- Punch down the risen dough, cut into two equal portions and roll each portion out into a large rectangle. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and thyme/rosemary, if using. Roll the rectangle up from the short edge creating a tight 'jelly roll'. Repeat with the second portion of dough.
- Using a very sharp knife, cut eat jelly roll of dough in half lengthwise. Pinch the ends of each halved roll together and braid them, one over the other, finishing the other end by pinching that dough together. Lightly grease two loaf pans, or line them with parchment paper. Gently place one dough braid in each loaf pan. Cover with a tea towel and let the dough rise a second time for approximately an hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 50 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time so they cook evenly. If the bread is browning too fast, move it to a lower rack in the oven and cover the top with a piece of aluminium foil. Let the loaves cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing them from the pan.
This dipped in soup…I bet it’s heaven.
Yummmm absolutely, Mariana! 🙂
I made this recipe with a few additions and omg!! even with out my added seasoning this bread is to die for especially with hime grown sweet onions!!
Omg, home grown sweet onions! Colour me jealous, Laura! Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Cheese + carbs, it’s hard to go wrong 🙂
This is my all time favourite bread recipe. Absolutely delicious!
Wonderful to hear, Melissa!! 🙂
Hiya, this bread looks delicious. What kinds of flour would work well in this recipe? White bread flour, whole wheat, spelt etc? Look forward to making. Thanks, Priya
You can certainly switch it up, Priya. I used white bread flour (Rogers, never Robin Hood- it never turns out well?), but alternative flours could be equally tasty. If using spelt, kamut or other ‘Ancient Grain’ I would just keep in mind that they have more delicate gluten strands- this means they are easier to digest for us, but also easily broken- take care not to over-knead these. Have fun and enjoy!
Hiya!
So I’m a newbie bread maker. I’ve tried a few different recipes and they’ve been just okay, good, but not great.
But this recipe was FABULOUS. My husband, father in law, and sister in law all devoured it. Half the load disappeared in the time they came home from work to the time they went to bed! I couldn’t believe how soft and yummy it was.
I halved the recipe, as I didn’t want to waste if I wasn’t able to have the recipe turn out right. I’m definitely regretting that decision!
Side note: I only had Robin Hood flour on hand, so that’s what I used. It turned out great, but maybe with Rogers it will turn out better?
Also, since I LOVE how this dough turned out, I was considering just making it without the onions and cheese into a regular white loaf of bread for sandwiches, etc. Would it turn out do you think? The texture of the dough before baking was amazingly soft, one of the best so far out of all the attempts I’ve made with other recipes. Hence the idea to try baking a basic loaf. Next question: can I sub the onions and cheese for brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins?
Last question I promise! Does this freeze well? Would I slice before or after?
On a very happy note, I felt like a pro baker while braiding the loaf. I felt like I was in my own prestige bakery! It’s the little things in life, man!
Loaf, not load, yikes! Autocorrect caught that before I could!
Hi! Could you also be able to mix in the cheese and the rosemary into the bread along with the onions and the milk and the rest of the ingredients in step 2? That way the cheese and rosemary is totally distributed throughout the bread? Or would doing that make the bread turn out weird? Thanks!
Hi Alex, you can certainly do so if you wish- the bread won’t turn out weird, it likely just won’t rise quiiiite as much. It sounds super weird, but the sharp edges of a lot of inclusions (herbs, mostly) will cut those precious gluten strands you took so long to cultivate. That being said, it’s not gonna be a flop by any means so go for it if that’s what works best for you!
I’m not a huge fan of cheddar. Do you think Gouda cheese or Provolone would work?
Hi Joy, Gouda would be a great substitute for Cheddar- it’s got similar moisture content and melts in a similar fashion!
Would you consider adding a picture of this step? “Using a very sharp knife, cut eat jelly roll of dough in half lengthwise. Pinch the ends of each halved roll together and braid them, one over the other, finishing the other end by pinching that dough together. “
Hi Janet! Not a problem at all- we actually have pictures of the full method on a different twist bread recipe on our site! Scroll about halfway down the page to see what each step looks like 🙂 >> http://portandfin.com/twisted-squash-bread-with-smoked-cheddar-red-onion-sage/
Made this last night,added balsamic vinegar to the caramelising onions, used fresh rosemary and a mix of spelt,granary and strong white bread flour. Not so sure about the ‘assembly’ instructions,but for the second one I divided the once-proved dough into three equal amounts and rolled each into a strip ~120mm wide and ~350mm long; then added the cheese and rosemary and rolled along the long edge of each. I then plaited these and dropped into a loaf tin to prove again; perfect! The bread is moorish and definitely best on it’s own when warm and with soup when cool. A slice also fries well in a drop of olive oil! Many thanks from the whole family!
OMG – this recipe is amazing…thank you for posting it!
I am a newbie to bread making and this recipe totally raised my confidence.
Hello,
Thanks for sharing the recipe and hello from Newcastle upon Tyne, we are in the North East of England!!
I tried the recipe last night and it is yummy according to my husband and my son. I will try it for lunch later although the smell is soo hard to resist 😂.
I used extra mature cheddar, strong white flour but didn’t have rosemary so had to make do without but still delish!
I know i need to practise making the plait but I’ll get there 😊
I wish I could share pics .
Thanks again, Finn and hope you’re all well!!
Love,
Wina
Hi, i cant wait to try this recipe on the weekend. Did you use bread flour or plain flour?
This recipe is great! I changed up the cheese a bit because I only had a little over a cup of cheddar. I added a pinch of smoked paprika, cayenne and then about 4 oz of brie in clumps with the cheddar. It was amazing. I will do it with brie next time too!
Hello! We love this recipe. As is! We make no changes. However I’d love to just make one loaf, can I just half all the ingredients? Or do something different with half the dough?
Loved your recipe, thank you for posting. Added garlic to caramelized onions. Mixed in cheese right with dough. Made triple batch. Triple amount of yeast due to weight of dough. Made 3 loaves of bread and a ton of rolls. Turned out awesome, thank you!