Hot cheese bread: grip it and rip it!
If you’re a yeast bread baker, you know that different loaves provoke different visceral responses. There are sandwich loaves, golden brown and perfectly domed, that seem almost too beautiful to cut into. And there’s country sourdough bread, whose occasional lack of beauty is made up for by its enticing aroma. Focaccia begs you to cut it into squares and dip it in seasoned olive oil; a baguette makes you bend down and listen to it “singing” as it cools.
But one response all homemade yeast breads invoke in common: they all say RIP INTO ME RIGHT NOW.
Hot-from-the-oven bread envelops your house with a yeasty aura of warmth and comfort. But it’s not enough to simply enjoy the aroma of bread, or to admire it as it cools. Though you’re cautioned not to cut into a hot sandwich loaf, lest your precipitous cut turn it gummy (and yes, if you cut oven-hot bread, that does happen), other breads are fair game for the “grab, rip, and gorge” response we feel.
Gruyère Cheese Bread falls smack in the middle of that category.
Chewy, oven-hot bread with a crown of crusty melted cheese… does it get any better? This recipe comes from the French Pastry School in Chicago, which uses King Arthur Flour exclusively for breads, cakes, cookies, pastries–every recipe that calls for flour. We’ve adapted their recipe for home bakers, but we didn’t have to do much beyond tweak it to work in home ovens, which differ vastly from the steam-injected brick ovens professional bakers use.
French Pastry School head baker/chefs Jacquy Pfeiffer and Sebastien Canonne say this is one of their truly beloved breads, one that never fails to attract customers when it’s pulled from the oven and immediately fills the bakeshop with its steamy aroma of melted cheese and hot bread.
OK, by now you’re chomping at the bit, ready to bake, right? Let’s go for it. Without further ado, here’s how to make the French Pastry School’s Gruyère Cheese Bread.
Mix flour, water, salt, and yeast, and set aside to rest at room temperature overnight.
Just about 14 hours later, look how that simple starter has grown!
Mix the starter with the remainder of the dough ingredients. The dough will be rough at first…
…but becomes smooth and satiny as you knead.
Next, let the dough rise till it’s grown to just about twice its size.
WOW! Unlike more sluggish doughs, this one rises fairly quickly, doubling in size in 2 hours or less.
And the gluten, as you can see, is nicely developed.
Pat the dough into a rough 9” x 12” rectangle.
Spritz with water, and layer on the grated cheese…
…and roll it up, starting with a longer edge.
Here it is, a lovely cheese-filled log.
Once it’s risen again, divide the dough into four pieces; or two pieces, for larger loaves.
Place the pieces, cut-side up, on a parchment-lined baking sheet. You don’t HAVE to use parchment, but it helps with cleanup; these loaves will oooooze cheese as they bake.
See what I mean? Melted cheese bubbles out the top and down the sides of the loaves like lava from a volcano.
And here’s a cross section of the “volcano.” You can slice this bread if you like, but really: just rip into it with both hands while it’s hot. Enjoy!
Find the recipe online by clicking here: Gruyère Cheese Bread.
March 28th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.
Stacey Derbinshire
March 28th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Oh man, now I know what I’m doing this weekend. Thanks, that looks wonderful!
March 28th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Don, use whatever cheese you like; the original version called for Gruyere, but it’s so expensive I substituted Jarlsberg; I’ve also tried cheddar, and Asiago. All seem to work fine (and taste delicious, of course). And remember - don’t wait for it to cool - grip it and rip it! Enjoy-
March 28th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
This is an absolutely gorgeous-looking bread! Am definitely baking this weekend!
March 28th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Thank you for this indepth instruction. I’m looking forward to making this bread this afternoon. I’m making a flour-run for some KA and will start upon my return. I can’t wait. This is my kind of fun and my family and friends will benefit.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I am drooling…………… Darn, I have a birthday party to go to tomorrow.
(Need to go get that yummy cheese anyway.)
Thanks for posting the photos for us visual learners!
March 28th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I have some biga in my fridge already from when I made some Foccacia bread. Can I use this instead of making a new batch of starter dough from this recipe? If so, how much would I need? Thanks.
I can’t wait to try this bread!!!!
March 28th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Jennifer, you’d need 9 to 10 ounces of biga - hope you have a scale. If not, I’d guess 9 to 10 ounces would be about 3/4 to 1 cup stirred down? (But a scale is much better…) Good luck, hope it turns out well- should be fine, just watch the flour/liquid ratio and make a fairly soft (but not massively sticky) dough.
March 29th, 2008 at 12:05 am
YUM! thank you for this great recipe! I’m making the biga tonight and will finish this for the family tomorrow! Looks delicious! I’ll be using Jarlsberg cheese. I’m linking this page to my comfort cooking blog! BTW - thank you for your comment on my blog - Wow! PJ read it!
March 29th, 2008 at 5:31 am
Marian, indeed, California is about as far from Vermont as you can get… wish you lived closer, too. But maybe someday, eh? In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy your blog - you sound like a knowledgeable food person with lots of good stuff to offer - keep it coming!
March 29th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
How about sour dough starter? Would that work for a starter instead of creating a new one? I’ve shown some friends at work the visuals and they are as excited as I am to try the recipe. Bread, yes! Cheese, yes! Bread & Cheese baked together…nirvana!!
March 29th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
This looks wonderful and will have to try this soon!! By the way PJ where do you get the 56 oz clear measuring cup? I can’t find it on the KA shop.
March 29th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
This looks wonderful and I have to try this soon. I love your clear 56 or 64 oz measuring cup. I can’t find it in the KA shop and can’t find it on the web either. Can you tell me where you get this? Thanks.
March 29th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Read the recipe the evening of the 28th. Made the starter the evening of the 29th, and can hardly wait to taste this bread!
March 29th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
What a yummy recipe!! I love this hot cheese bread!
March 29th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Linda, I think sourdough starter would work OK… of course, the bread would be sour, and not sure I really would like the sour/cheese flavor combo, but give it a go and let us know how it works…
Nancy, that measuring cup (which I love) comes from a wholesale foodservice place called Cambro; same place that makes our dough-rising buckets, which I also use quite a bit. I’m going to ask our merchandising team if they can bring it back for fall, because I surely do use it all the time. It’s really neat for bread dough, and also perfect for measuring the fruit for pie filling - like, you always need 7-8 cups.
March 29th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Hi PJ, I just can’t help noticing you are using this big measuring cup every time for the bread dough. I am flying over to Cambro to get one for now. KA should definitely carry this. I am also starting the scali bread tonight and can’t wait to see how it will turn out tomorrow. Thanks for the great tips and all the great recipes!!
March 30th, 2008 at 12:33 am
It’s 1:30am….I am going to go make the starter right NOW so I can do this for dinner tomorrow night. Thank you so much for getting my mouth salivating!! YUM YUM!
March 30th, 2008 at 8:00 am
I saw this in your e-mail and couldn’t wait to try it. I made the starter last night and am now waiting for the first rise. I’m not a great baker, but I had to try this. Mine doesn’t look as smooth or as fluid as yours does–duh. But I hope that won’t matter when it comes to taste. So looking forward to this.
March 30th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
This recipe is a keeper! The dough is easy to work with, it smells divine while it’s baking, and the bread is chewy and delicious with the cheese. True baking alchemy, turning base ingredients — flour, water, salt, yeast and cheese — into gold.
March 30th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
You’re absolutely right, HMB. That’s what I love about baking - it’s magic. Or magical alchemy. A creative, “not sure where I’m going but the journey’s a blast” experience - with something to share at the end.
March 30th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Sourdough, sharp white cheddar and jalapenos would be my choice for this bread. I just made a version with Gruyere and non-sourdough, and it’s good, but a bit wimpy flavor-wise.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:53 am
So I made this over the weekend, substituting 16oz of Sharp Cheddar for the Gruyere, and it was just fantastic.
Once the kids got a wiff of it baking, they went through both loaves in record time.
Thanks for the recipe!
March 31st, 2008 at 11:55 am
This is such a fantastic recipe: I made it this weekend. I used sharp cheddar cheese and divided it into 4 small loaves. The texture was fabulous, the aroma was intoxicating…it was actually hard to wait until it was done. Somehow we managed to not eat all of it hot out of the oven and it was quite tasty the next day as well.
March 31st, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Hi there, I did it last weekend it was absolutely gorgeous!!! one of the best breads I ever made. I also put some rosemary in one of them.
thanks
April 1st, 2008 at 1:01 am
Can’t wait to try this bread! Everyone on the Baking Circle is raving about it.
K2Q
April 1st, 2008 at 9:08 am
This looks heavenly! I’m going to have to try it later this week!
April 1st, 2008 at 11:13 am
can this be made in a bread machine for dough only
can’t wait to make it started the biga last night will make today
April 1st, 2008 at 11:20 am
Sure, Bobbi, make the dough in the bread machine. That’s how I do it. When you read the recipe, you’ll see that the instructions call for kneading by hand, with an electric stand mixer, or in the bread machine set on the dough cycle. Of those three, my dough works most reliably when kneaded in one of our Zojirushi bread machines (of which we have eight I believe, in the test kitchen)-
April 1st, 2008 at 11:30 am
Looking forward to the answer to can this be made in a bread machine. I have the large Zojuroshi.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:35 pm
In your recipe you say 425 for baking. Yet, in the video it is stated as 500 degrees. Also, you say bake on a tray and the video shows baking on a stone. I plan to bake this bread this weekend. Can’t wait. Thanks.
April 1st, 2008 at 5:45 pm
There is no sealed end on two slices when the roll is cut into four. What do you do with the open ends? In the illustration, nothing is shown for the two ends in the original roll. Is this pinched to create a sealed end?
Brown 65
April 1st, 2008 at 6:21 pm
This is probably the best bread I have ever made. Very easy dough to work with and excellent flavor!! Thanks for all your recipes…. I love your blog!
April 1st, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Thanks so much for the photos! But, I admit to just making this bread without looking at them or the video on YouTube first, but with King Arthur’s great directions it went well. I also used a Zo dough cycle; it worked fine, as usual. The cheese used was Country Swiss, and as it sits cooling in the kitchen I can smell its wonderful aroma from the computer desk! Wow! We will enjoy!
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:22 am
Richard, I didn’t bother sealing the end; just plopped it down onto the parchment-lined pan. I didn’t seal the ends of the original log, either, and for whatever reason, the cheese didn’t seem to run out. Gently squeeze the bottoms into a pucker, if you like, but I wouldn’t put a lot of effort into making a tight seal…
Kathy, the YouTube video shows how the chefs at the French Pastry School do it; they use a hotter oven, and steam. So the video doesn’t exactly match my directions. Use the video more for seeing the finished product and watching how the “big guys” do it, rather than a true step-by-step process to do at home.
And Casey—and everyone—thanks for the nice comments!
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
I made the bread last night for supper with a salad it came out great the flavor was good with the Gruyere cheese browned so nicely it came out perfect thank you KING ARTHUR FLOUR for the recipe this one is surely a keeper in my house and thanks goes to PJ Hamel for answering all the questions we are asking it is like a little baker we are having in our kitchen thank you so much for your expertise help
Bobbi
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:39 am
One question I had regarding this bread, and any bread with a starter, is how long can the starter sit at room temp. before you use it? There have been several days were I have the best of intentions to make bread that day with the starter I made the night before but just can’t fit it in. Do I need to start over with a new starter the next day? I guess I just gave myself a way but I am fairly new to the whole bread making thing!!
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Casey, the starter can stay at room temperature till it begins to cave in and sink down; you’ll notice it collapsing, starting in the center; it’s no longer strong enough to hold itself up. At that point, you can still use it, but once it really falls down, I’d start again.
If you think you’re not going to get to it for awhile, put it in the fridge, covered; that’ll slow it down a lot. It’ll also make your final loaf more sour (as in sourdough bread), so keep that in mind.
Bread is actually very flexible; I’m glad you’re getting into it, because there’s so much fun stuff to learn, and the experimenting is enjoyable, for sure. Good luck!
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Great!!! I made these rustic loaves over the weekend and they were eaten on the spot! Thanks always for the step-by-step pictures and directions. You’ve got a huge fan here in Colorado.
April 5th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Hmmm.. I am chomping on the edge piece of this now- I added about 5 ounces of diced prosciutto with the Gruyere- It is fabulous! crunch, chew, crunch, chew… One of your best recipes ever…
April 6th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
YUM!
Just finished making this recipe. It is great! Can’t wait to try it again using some of the other filling ingredients listed above. Thanks to you and KA.
April 7th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
My 7 & 8 yr old grandsons were delighted with the ‘volcanoes and the (cheese) lava’ on the interesting bread shapes. And, oh so good!
April 7th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
What do you think the result would be if I used AP flour instead of bread flour? I’m having a little trouble finding it locally.
April 8th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I made this wonderful cheese bread this weekend. I used European Artisan Flour. In one loaf I used a mixture of Mozzerella cheese and pepperjack and in the other I used Cheddar Cheese. It turned out phenomenol, the taste was great. I shared with my neighbors and two of my sisters. They all enjoyed the cheese bread.My starter didn’t look like yours though. Is that because I didn’t have the correct flour? Or is it because I doubled the reciepie? April 8, 2008
April 9th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Linda, I’m glad everyone liked the bread - that’s the most important thing. Starters are funny creatures; depending on where you live, the yeast flying around in your kitchen, etc., they’re all going to act and look different. So don’t worry about the “look” of the starter - so long as it did its job, that’s the important thing!
April 11th, 2008 at 1:20 am
It’s amazing. I like it. Sounds good to me, even though I can’t agree with everything< that is written here
April 14th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Ok, my baking started out rough — the starter never really seemed to bubble. And it took longer to rise than I thought. And then the dough was really sticky. But HOLY SMOKES, when it came out of the oven it was amazing! I can’t wait to try it again!
April 16th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I need some help. I followed the recipe. The dough was fine from starter through rising, shaping, and proofing. But when I baked it, it did not have oven spring and hence was dense. The chew was nice, but it was too dense. What could have gone wrong? What should I try to adjust next time?
April 18th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I met some King Arthur Flour employees at a restaurant in New Orleans (I was taking pictures of my food for my own blog and one of the women at the next table started commenting about it because she does the same thing) and learned about this great blog! When I get back into my own kitchen, this one is first on my list!
April 19th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Stephanie, enjoy the bread. You must have met Susan in New Orleans - she’s a fellow blogger here, and she was down there for a trade show. Hope you both enjoyed your meals once you were done photographing them!
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:59 am
[…] While out at dinner one night in New Orleans, I was doing my usual routine of taking shots of the beautiful food presented at my trough…I mean, table. One of the women seated at the next table saw what I was doing and laughed. I thought she was laughing at me for doing something as ridiculous as photographing food, but she was laughing because she was doing the exact same thing. Turns out, she writes for the King Arthur Flour’s blog, Baker’s Banter. The three of them were in town for the annual conference for the International Association of Culinary Professionals. I love, love, love King Arthur Flour, but had no clue they had their own blog! We started talking blog shop for a bit and web addresses were exchanged (along with dining experiences thus far in New Orleans). As soon as I got back to my hotel, I checked out their blog and I swear I heard angels sing as I stumbled upon a recipe for (wait for it) Hot Cheese Bread! […]
April 26th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I love this type of bread…Eating with your hands is so medieval…LOL
:) 
Kimberly Edwards
April 27th, 2008 at 4:37 am
I have made the cheese-bread and we love it all. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Love and greetings out of the Netherlands, Ruud
April 27th, 2008 at 5:50 am
Ruud, what cheese did you use? Gruyere? Just interested, you being from the Netherlands with such a wide selection of cheeses to choose from…
And love and greetings from Vermont!
April 27th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I made this bread today. It was so good! Thank you so much for this blog and all the pictures, recipes, etc.
April 27th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Awesome, I like the way you describe a recipe.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
This is amazing. I am going try to adapt this to no-knead bread:
http://red-icculus.com/?p=21
It might depend on the cheese, but this might go well with beer bread as well:
http://red-icculus.com/?p=79
April 29th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
As a CPA, I didn’t have a chance to try making this bread until after tax season. But when I did… My raising bucket didn’t get quite a full as your picture, but my loaves looked every bit as inviting and the taste was fabulous. I served it to my unsuspecting neighbors when they came for dinner. The bread received rave reviews!
April 29th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Wow, this looks really yummy!! I am going to try it myself, maybe with some sweet chilli in there too.
April 30th, 2008 at 2:36 am
fortissimo!!!
May 1st, 2008 at 8:31 am
I knew when I read the recipe that my family and I would love it. I made it last weekend, and they think I’m a genius! Instead of cutting it into two or four pieces, I cut it into about eight 2″ slices. These made oversized individual portions. They were fantastic! I used cheddar because that’s what was in the refrigerator that day. The recipe is definately a keeper, and I will be making it this weekend, too, because the family is insisting that I do.
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:30 pm
That bread looks sooooo good. I wish I wasn’t so hungry right now.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I absolutely love this bread!! I came out from the oven looking like I had bought them from a store. I made it with smoked Gouda cheese and it was so yummy. I gave a loaf to our neighbor and she told me it was the best bread she has ever eaten. Thank you so much. Now I can’t wait to try the Rustic Olive Rolls.
May 6th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
That chesey bread looks fantastic. I’m bookmarking this page so I can have a go at your recipe! Thanks!
May 7th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I am drooling. Oh my word. Delectable and Tonguegasmic come to mind.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
This looks absolutely delicious. I plan on trying it with my dinner tonight.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
This is the best web site for bread I look good because of these recipes and detailed instructions. I made this bread with fontina cheese I am beating the family away from it with a stick. My daughter did the happy dance.
So easy and so good tomorrow I will start another batch I have requests from friends that have heard about how yummy it is.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:39 am
It looks fantastic! I love stuff like this. And it’s not just the bread, it’s the *love* for the bread that makes this so special.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:34 am
Wow, what a treat! LOVE IT!
www.homeandcooking.blogspot.com
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:08 am
Baked this with my 9 year old grandson. It was Buddy’s first homemade bread and he was SO proud. His head got so big we thought he would have to sleep in the garage because it wouldn’t fit through the front door.
The bread was everything we expected. We will b experiment using different cheeses