Cheesy cheese bread

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JustJoel

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Have you ever been “browsing” in your local supermarket’s bakery section (if the have one), and you see this lovely soft-looking round loaf with melted cheddar that has solidified back into these, well, solid puddles of cheese. I wish I had a pic.

Anyway, I’ve been trying to duplicate this. I’ve tried using cubed cheese instead of shredded - the cheese still melts into the dough while it bakes. Putting the cheese in the freezer didn’t seem to be effectual either. Cheese sprinkled on top dries out and gets kinda crunchy. That’s not unpleasant, it’s just not the result I’m shooting for.

If you have any idea or can see in your mind’s eye what I’m talking about. Meanwhile, I’ll see if I can’t find either pic, or another thousand words!
 
This pic comes as close as it can to what that grocery store loaf looks like, although my store bread has more cheese, which is concentrated in large pockets all over the top of the bread. But that’s not quite right either. Oddly enough, it’s from this guy Steve’s video for no-knead cheddar cheese bread, but in the actual video, the bread he takes out of the oven looks nothing like the pic in the thumbnail. That’s one reason I haven’t tried the recipe; the other is that it seems way over-hydrated at over 100%!

Here’s the pic though

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It looks like to me that the cheese is sprinkled on right after loaf is taken out of the oven and steaming hot. The cheese melts and spreads, as the bread cools down it hardens again. JMHO

Looks really good.
 
We have a local bakery that adds 8oz of cubed cheddar or pepper jack cheese to a standard loaf of bread. I believe that they knead the cubes of cheese into the one pound loaf at the time the loaf is shaped and ready for a final rise. The puddles of cheese are evenly distributed in the loaf and a few cubes melt and ooze out of the loaf to make crunchy bits around the edges. The loaf I'm describing is a conventional looking loaf baked in a loaf pan and is sliced on a machine at the time of purchase.

Good luck!
 
It looks like to me that the cheese is sprinkled on right after loaf is taken out of the oven and steaming hot. The cheese melts and spreads, as the bread cools down it hardens again. JMHO

Looks really good.
Then, or just in the last few minutes of taking the loaf out of the oven to facilitate the cheese melting. I’m hoping it will melt and brown just a tiny bit.

After a bit of research, I came across a pull-apart cheese bread recipe that kinda sounded like it would be what I’m looking for. I’m an experimenter (although i’m trembling it’s trepidation at each new method or recipe tweak!), so I’ll try several different methods.
Thanks!
 
I have a recipe for that, simple take a white bloomer loaf recipe but makes rolls of it, bake at 200 C for 10 minutes, add cheese and bake for 10 minutes more and that most often comes out like that.
 
Shrek used to make a cheese bread out of roll or bun dough, he would chop the shredded cheese and green onions into the dough before the second rise, rise and bake. Not sure how much, since he made enough for the daily run in the bakery. Lots of cheese puddles...now I want some. He shaped round loaves and sandwich rolls with it. The roll or bun dough are softer and a bit sweeter.
 
Here’s what I ended up making:

9B8BBFBA-D594-42F2-977D-B8485A42F17D.jpg

As you can see, I did manage to get “pooled” cheese on the top, although it got a bit too brown for me. Next time, I’ll have to tent it. And I think a different dough is in order. This one was a bit wonky from the beginning, difficult to work, and the crumb was denser than I prefer. You can view the recipe here

Thanks for all your input, folks! It’s always appreciated!
 
Looks good, Joel.

Every now and then I'll buy a jalapeno cheese bread from the bakery dept. in my local Albertsons. I LOVE those - especially toasted and buttered. :yum:
 
I miss making bread. Specially the kneading. It is always my time to leave this world and just think happy thoughts. Yes, I do have a KA, but I prefer to do it my hand. Right now I can only stand on one leg and the counters are too high for me.

Pirate loves Italian bread. One time I made a loaf for him with finely grated imported Parmesan cheese mixed in. That loaf was gone in an hour. Due to his impatience, he burnt his hand on the first slice. Couldn't wait for it to cool down. The Sympathy Department was closed down for that day. And he wants to know why he has so much trouble losing weight.
 
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