This gluten free cheese bread is still your everyday bread, just made extra soft and cheesy. It's practically a meal all by itself!
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What makes this recipe for gluten free cheese bread special?
Our original recipe for gluten free artisan bread became a reader favorite right away. It makes a smaller loaf of bread, using only about 2 cups of gluten free flours in total, and can be made by hand in a single bowl.
Don't take my word for it. Listen to Jasmine, who said in the comments on that recipe, “This bread has changed my life.”
This recipe for an enriched cheese bread is not shy about gilding the lily. The original recipe contains milk and an egg, so it's not exactly a “lean bread,” which is a bread made without added and fats and other enrichments like yogurt. But this cheese bread recipe has so much more.
In addition to the milk and egg in the original recipe, here we're adding yogurt and butter, which help make the crust thinner and softer, and the bread itself extra soft. With these extra enrichments, it helps to use a stand mixer to combine everything fully. But you can make it by hand, mixing vigorously.
Of course, there's also shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Most of the cheese is mixed by hand into the dough before setting it to rise. With the cheese mixed into the bread, eating a plain slice is like eating a grilled cheese.
Extra cheese on top of the bread after rising
The recipe calls for adding most of the shredded cheese to the bread dough/batter, and mixing it in thoroughly by hand. The reserved 1/2 ounce of shredded cheese is for the top of the loaf.
I've made the bread by adding the reserved cheese to the top of the loaf after it's risen but before I've baked the loaf at all. You can see me doing that in the photo below.
The cheese on top, as well as any cheese that peeks out from the dough all around the loaf, is more likely to burn in the hot oven that way. The taste isn't really affected, but if that bothers you, stick to adding the cheese after the loaf is nearly finished baking.
Just bake the risen loaf for 35 minutes, then run a knife or other flat edge along the rim of the baking container to loosen it. Turn the loaf out, upside down, onto a rimmed baking sheet, top with the remaining cheese, and return the loaf to the oven to finish baking.
A batter-style gluten free bread
This is a batter-style gluten free bread recipe. You'll shape the dough using wet hands, and it will resemble cookie dough more than it does traditional bread dough.
In addition to the all purpose gluten free flour blend in the recipe, this bread calls for additional tapioca starch. It helps give the bread chew and structure.
If you don't have additional tapioca starch to add to the bread, you can make it with an equal amount more of the flour blend, but your bread won't rise as high and the crumb will be tighter.
I really recommend that you use Better Batter as your all purpose gluten free flour blend in this recipe. With the extra tapioca starch added, it has just the right structure and texture for this sort of batter batter dough.
Ingredients and substitutions
Dairy
This recipe has a number of types of dairy in it: milk, yogurt, butter, and of course shredded cheese. If you can't have dairy, I'd really recommend you just use the original artisan bread recipe. In that recipe, the only dairy is milk, and you can easily swap in unsweetened non-dairy milk.
Egg
Since there is only one egg in this recipe, you should be able to replace it with one “chia egg.” Place 1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds in a small bowl with a tablespoon or two of lukewarm water and mix until it gels.
Instant yeast
There is no substitute for yeast in a yeast bread recipe. If you can't have yeast, please use the search function on the blog and type in “yeast free” and you'll find other options.
You can use active dry yeast in place of instant yeast by multiplying the weight of the instant yeast by 125%. Here, that would mean 7.5 grams of yeast.
Just keep going a tiny bit after your scale reads 7 grams and call it good. Unlike instant yeast, active dry yeast should be soaked in some of the liquid in the recipe (here, milk) until it foams before adding it with the rest of the milk.
Gluten Free Cheese Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ⅝ cups (227 g) all purpose gluten free flour (I used Better Batter; please click thru for full info on appropriate blends)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
- ⅜ cup (54 g) tapioca starch/flour
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) instant yeast
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) kosher salt
- ¾ cup (6 fluid ounces) warm milk (about 95°F)
- ¼ cup (57 g) plain yogurt at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (21 g) honey pure maple syrup, and/or molasses
- 3 tablespoons (42 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 (50 g (weighed out of shell)) egg at room temperature, beaten
- 4 ounces sharp yellow cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Grease a 1 or 1 1/2 quart glass oven safe bowl and set it aside. If you don’t have a glass bowl, you can use a small round pan or cast iron skillet with high sides.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, place the flour, xanthan gum, tapioca starch/flour, yeast, and baking soda, and whisk to combine well. Add the salt, and whisk again to combine well.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the milk, yogurt, honey, butter, and egg, and beat or mix vigorously. The bread dough/batter should come together and lighten a bit in color as you mix.
- Add about 3 1/2 ounces of the cheese to the dough and mix by hand to combine.
- With wet hands, shape the dough/batter into a disk and place it in the prepared baking bowl, skillet, or pan, and smooth the top with clean, wet hands or a moistened spatula. Do not compress the dough at all.
- Cover the bowl completely with an oiled piece of plastic wrap. Be careful not to compress the dough, but cover the dough securely.
- Place it in a warm, moist place to rise for about 45 minutes, or until the dough has increased to about 150% of its original size. In cool, dry weather, the dough may take longer to rise; in warm, moist weather, it may take less time to rise. This does tend to be a relatively quick-rising dough.
- When the dough is nearing the end of its rise, preheat your oven to 350°F.
- After the dough has risen, remove the plastic wrap, slash the top very carefully once or twice, and place the bowl in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until the bread is lightly golden brown all around.
- Working quickly, remove the bowl from the oven, gently loosen the bread from the edges of the bowl, and invert the bread onto a lined baking sheet.
- Sprinkle the top of the bread with the remaining 1/2 ounce of shredded cheese, and place the baking sheet with the bread in the oven.
- Bake until the crust has darkened slightly all around, and the bread sounds hollow when thumped anywhere, on the bottom or top, about another 10 minutes.
- The internal temperature of the bread should reach about 185°F on an instant-read thermometer. Turn the bread out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.
- Once cooled completely, the bread freezes very well. Just slice it, enclose it very tightly in a freezer-safe wrap and place it in the freezer. Defrost a slice or two at a time.
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Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Jen N says
LOVE this bread. I use Trader Joes Unexpected Cheddar and its delicious. For those with difficulty removing the bread – absolutely use butter instead of a spray. No issues then ?Question: How to best store these breads and can I double the recips. I bake this and the plain artisan and they dry out quickly. Should I put in sealed baking tin, ziplock bag, refrigerate?
Nicole Hunn says
Unless I specifically state otherwise, I do not recommend doubling GF yeast bread recipes. Instead, just measure out the ingredients twice and bake two side by side. All fresh bread dries out relatively quickly (that’s why they reference “day old bread” when it’s no longer fresh!). Here’s a post on recommendations for storing homemade bread.
Holly says
Nicole, I tried to hit reply again to my last comment but I can never get that work.. I just baked this bread and it is magnificent. I used the Pyrex glass bowl that looked like the same one you used in the video with the lip. The only problem I came across was I could not get the bread out of the bowl when it was time to take it out and cook it 10 more minutes. I did spray it pretty liberally with cooking spray. I put it back in the oven to make sure it was ready to come out but at that point it was in for 42 minutes so I knew I needed to take it out and get it out of the bowl before the second cook. I had to pry it out and about a third of it was left in the bowl ?. That also made it shrink some when it was nice and high after the rise in during the bake. Ugh. I’m wondering how you got yours out of the bowl or where I went wrong there. I did use manchego cheese and it’s a firm cheese so maybe that’s it..? regardless it is incredibly delicious and the texture is spot on to the bread basket breads that I only dream about from my yesteryears! It tastes like it took all day but it only took me 10 minutes to put together! Yummmmm!
Ellen Roth says
I tried this recipe today with gf flour; the only addition was 1tsp. xanthan gum. It turned out hard and dry. I’m not very good at modifying my own recipes to gf; what would you do different? Thank you, I didn’t know where else to ask.
Nicole Hunn says
Ellen, I’ve removed the link to that other recipe, as I don’t offer that sort of service. Good gluten free baking requires good gluten free recipes, as there is no such thing as a true “cup for cup” replacement for conventional flour.
Holly says
Nicole, how does one measure for a one or one and a half quart container? Can you offer maybe a size by cup measure or by inches? From the looks of this recipe it appears the container size is important. I do have different sizes of round glass Pyrex bowls with plastic lids that I got to store food in and one of them looks similar to the one you’re using but I don’t know if they are oven safe. I would love to try this bread! Also, do you think it would be okay if I used manchego cheese instead of cheddar because we can only have sheep/goat cheeses. Thank you for the feedback!
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Holly, the size reference is to the volume that the glass bowl can hold. If there is no capacity indication on the bowl, which there usually is, you can try filling the bowl with water and then transferring that amount of liquid to measuring cup for a measurement of the capacity. Manchego cheese is much drier than cheddar, so I’d try to find another semi-hard cheese that is similar in texture to cheddar.
Louise says
I made this tonight and it was delicious. I’m UK based so I used Dove Freee GF plain flour. I also don’t own a stand mixer so just used a processor and whizzed it with the steel blade.
We used to make a lovely cheese bread which my 8-year-old adored. Since he was diagnosed as a coeliac, he’s been begging me to try a gluten-free one so I am very grateful to you for sharing this delicious one. Thank you very much.
Nicole Hunn says
I’m thrilled that you were able to provide that for your 8 year old celiac! I had an 8 year old celiac about 8 years ago, and I started this blog so that I could give him all of these recipes, so that one is near and dear to my heart. ?
Liz Purcell says
This bread is fantastic. I followed the directions exactly and used the recommended ingredients. It was wonderful toasted for a BLT, but it was best hot out of the oven… so good we devoured half the loaf in a few minutes. I’m looking forward to trying some modifications like herbs or jalapeños. Thanks, Nicole!
Nicole Hunn says
It does tend to compress a bit when you slice into it before it’s cooled, Liz, but you’re right—it does taste best that way!! I love the idea of adding jalapeños!
Esther Iglich says
I love the bread – made it last weekend- very tasty! However it was moister and a bit chewier than I expected. Not sure if I didn’t bake it long enough? I reduced the baking time a bit as the internal temp was what you said it should be. Great toasted. Would adding cooked carmelized onions affect the the years rising?
Nicole Hunn says
I’m afraid I don’t know what your expectations were, Esther, but it’s an enriched bread as described in the post which is moister than a lean dough. I’m afraid I wouldn’t add caramelized onions to the raw dough, but you could add some the top when you add the final bit of shredded cheese without hurting anything.
Keri says
Hi
Can you split the dough and put into 2 loaf pans?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Keri, It’s not nearly enough dough to make multiple loaves.
Cheryl Cook says
Great recipe. I added some coarsely chopped canned jalapeño peppers to my loaf before baking and used it to make great bbq sandwiches with some leftover pulled pork. Will be on regular repeat here.
Nicole Hunn says
So glad, Cheryl!
Shalindhi says
Hi Nicole,
Could I use one of those white, round, pleated casserole dishes for this bread? I do have a Le Creuset dutch oven as well.
Nicole Hunn says
It’s more about size and shape, Shalindhi. So if the Le Creuset is a full-sized one but the casserole dish is smaller, I’d go with the casserole dish.
jill says
Yummmm! I made this yesterday but forgot to put the cheese on before putting it in the oven! I just sprinkled it on when the bread was done and gave it a quick broil to melt the cheese. I wonder if the salt can be reduced a bit though. I know it is necessary to control the yeast but with all the cheese, is extra salt really needed?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Jill, adding the extra cheese at the very end and melting it under the broiler works great anyway. You can reduce the salt a bit, but maybe you’re better off using a reduced sodium cheese if it seems like too much salt?
Jill says
Can the pectin in Better Batter be replaced with gelatin? Plain pectin is not the easiest ingredient to find!
Nicole Hunn says
No, it can’t, Jill. Please see the post about the mock Better Batter for a full understanding about what can and can’t be substituted.
Arnell VerHoef says
I would love to make this but I can’t have honey. Is Maple Syrup ok to subsitiute?
Nicole Hunn says
In many cases, I don’t recommend that swap, but in this case I think it would be fine, Arnell.
Wendy says
Have you tried freezing this bread?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Wendy, Yes! Please see the final recipe instruction for details. That info is already there.
Marina says
Thank you for this delicious recipe! Can this be made into rolls? Sometimes I just want to have the “roll” experience.
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Marina, I’m so glad you enjoyed the bread! No, I would not use this same dough to make rolls. But I have tons of roll recipes here on the blog. Just use the search function!
Rachael says
I just made this- the crust (the stuck to the bottom of my Dutch oven) is delicious! Can’t wait to sink my teeth into a slice! I used the converted measurements for active dry yeast and it worked just fine. Love the cheesy taste- and the texture is great.
Nicole Hunn says
You seem to have learned the hard way that you really do need to follow the instructions to grease whatever you bake it in! ☹️ So glad you’re enjoying the bread anyway, Rachael!