Dilled Cheese Bread

One of my favorite things to bake in the holiday kitchen is quick breads. Quick breads are ideal for this busy time of year because they are easy and satisfying to make, can be done in large batches, and are simple to wrap, transport and serve. Quick breads are the stalwarts of both bake sale and coffee hour. Something about their nature, so sturdy and neighborly, is why quick breads are ideal for the holiday kitchen. They invite comradeship over coffee and tea, even if it’s in so simple, but profound, a way as asking for the recipe.

 

And recipes we do have. Just as surely as quick breads are the workhorses of the holiday kitchen, so are recipes for them a backbone of Urban Home Blog’s baking content. We bake sunny lemon pound cake come springtime, serve savory cream cheese biscuits and pear coffee cake for brunch, spread date nut bread with honeyed cream cheese for picnics. And we always bake cranberry tea bread for the holidays. 

 

This year, we add another recipe to that repertoire: dilled cheese bread. This savory quick bread emerges from the oven amid clouds of the most amazing aromas: freshly baked bread, melty cheese, heady dill. This bread is perfect to accompany a bowl of soup for lunch, a cheese board at an open house, a selection of dips on the Christmas Eve buffet, but it is at its best fresh from the oven, spread with compound butter. Here is my original recipe for dilled cheese bread.

 

Dilled Cheese Bread

As noted in Urban Home Blog’s guide to the baking pantry, a 9 x 5 loaf pan is essential for your kitchen. You can obtain a good one here.

 

1-3/4 cups all purpose flour

2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup grated sharp cheddar

1/2 cup grated fontina

1 cup whole milk

4 tablespoons unsalted butter plus additional for the pan

1 egg

1 head fresh dill

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper  

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of the loaf pan.
3. Place a wire mesh strainer over a medium mixing bowl. Measure the flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper and salt through the strainer into the bowl. Shake the strainer to ensure that all of the dry ingredients are in the bowl and set the strainer aside.
4. Unwrap the butter and add it to the dry ingredients. Use a pastry cutter to thoroughly cut the butter into the dry ingredients. The mixture will remain on the dry side.
5. Place the dill on a clean cutting board devoted to vegetables. Safely use a paring knife to chop the fronds of dill into tiny pieces. Try to avoid using the thicker stems; just use the fronds.
6. Use the knife to help you transfer the chopped dill into the bowl containing the butter-flour mixture. Add the grated cheddar, grated fontina and several grindings of fresh black pepper to the bowl.
7. Use your hands to lightly but thoroughly mix the cheese, the dill and the dry ingredients together.
8. Measure the milk into a small mixing bowl. Break the egg into the milk and use a wire whisk to whisk the egg into the milk.
9. Hold the bowl containing the milk-egg mixture over the bowl containing the flour-cheese-herb mixture. Use a silicon spatula to mix the dough as you add the milk-egg mixture in a thin stream to the flour-cheese-herb mixture. Use the spatula to get all of the milk-egg mixture into the dough.
10. Hold the bowl over the rim of the pan and use the spatula to scrape the dough into the pan. Use the spatula to smooth the top of the bread.
11. Hold the herb board over the top of the bread and sprinkle any extra minced dill across the top of the bread.
12. Hold the pepper grinder over the top of the bread and sprinkle the top of the bread with several grindings of fresh black pepper.
13. Place the bread on the center rack in the preheated oven.
14. Bake until golden brown and very fragrant, 40 – 45 minutes.
15. Remove the baked bread from the oven. Allow to cool slightly in the pan before slicing and serving.