Herbalicious Cheese Bread

This cheese bread is an excellent addition to your Imbolc or Brigid’s Day feasts and a wonderful, go-to recipe for any Kitchen Witch to keep in their spellbook.

This was the first bread that I learned how to bake, and it’s my momma’s go-to bread recipe. This is a great starter recipe if you’ve never tried your hand at making bread. For this recipe, I’m using an herb cheese filling, but your options are endless here. One of my other faves that my momma makes is her West Coast Cheese Bread which has green chiles, black olives, and monterey jack.

Classic Loaf Bread Recipe

This is a great, simple bread recipe that makes two loaves. I’ll usually stuff one and keep the other one plain for sandwiches. It’s also really great with soups and stews. You can also half the recipe if you only want one loaf.

Ingredients

6 1/2 - 7 1/2 Cups of Bread or All-Purpose Flour

2 1/2 Cups Luke Warm Water

2 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast (or two packets)

2 tsp Honey or Sugar

2 tsp Salt

Ritual

In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, and honey. Stir briefly and let stand until the yeast dissolves and begins to foam, usually about 5-10 minutes.

Stir 3 cups of the flour and salt into the yeast mixture, and beat well until smooth and bubbly. Gradually add enough of the flour, 1 cup at a time - to make a fairly soft dough. Do not add more flour than the dough can absorb.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface, and knead gently until the dough is just barely non-sticky. Place in an oiled bowl, turning to cover all sides lightly with oil. Cover and allow to rise in a draft-free, warm place until doubled in size. Your oven makes a great place to allow your bread to rise. It should take about 30 minutes to double in size.

Punch down the dough and divide in half. (If you’re making the stuffed bread, jump down to the next recipe to continue.) Gently form into two loaves, and place each loaf in a well-greased 9” x 5” x 3” loaf pan. Cover and let rest until the loaves double in size again - should take another 30 minutes. While the bread is on its second rise, preheat your oven to 400F.

Bake the loaves for 30 minutes or until the tops are brown and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped. Turn out onto racks to cool before storing.

Herbalicious Cheese Stuffed Bread

You can try out plenty of different combinations with different kinds of cheeses, herbs, vegetables, or other ingredients to stuff your bread. In honor of Imbolc, the recipe below features Irish Cheddar and corresponding herbs.

Ingredients

1/2 Classic Loaf Bread Recipe

1 C Irish Cheddar

1/2 C Green Onions, Chopped

1/4 C Mayonnaise

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Egg, Beaten

1 1/2 tsp Fresh Basil*

1 1/2 tsp Fresh Rosemary*

1 1/2 tsp Fresh Thyme*

*If using dried herbs, substitute 1/2 tsp of each. Dill, chives, and parsley are all great options, too. Feel free to get creative with what you have on hand.

Ritual

After preparing the classic bread loaf recipe and punching down your loaf, turn it out onto a floured surface and let it rest for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425F.

Roll out the dough into an even 16” x 12” rectangle - should be about an 1/8” thick. Leaving a 1 1/2” border on the shorter sides, spread the mayo down the middle in about a 4” stripe. Sprinkle the cheese and green onions over the mayo stripe. Top with the herbs and drizzle with the olive oil.

Fold the two short ends of the dough up and over the filling. Dampen the long edges of the dough with with cold water, pull up to completely enclose the filling with about a 1” overlap on top. Press gently to seal.

Flip loaf over, seam side down and place on a greased baking sheet or in a greased loaf pan. Slash the top at least 3 times with a knife or bread blade to allow the steam from the filling to escape during baking. I usually do 3 diagonal slashes across the top of the loaf, like this / / /.

Brush the top of the loaf with the beaten egg. Put the loaf in the oven to bake until the top is nicely browned and cooked all the way through, about 35-40 minutes. Check bread after 20 minutes. If it’s browning too quickly, reduce heat to 400F.

Transfer bread to a cooling rack and allow to cool for about 20 minutes before slicing or storing.