Sourdough Jalapeño Cheddar Cheese Bread

It's time to spice up your sourdough bread. Making basic bread requires just 4 ingredients...flour, water, yeast, and salt, and has a good, plain flavor.

And when you maintain a sourdough starter, the unfed starter can be substituted for some of the flour and water. That sourdough starter discard also adds its tangy flavor to the bread, although it's subtle. Adding herbs, like for focaccia or ciabatta rolls, is one way to add even more flavor. Another way is to add mix-ins. Enter Sourdough Jalapeño Cheddar Bread. Flavor amped to the max!

Plus, it's another way to use unfed sourdough starter. Score!

What you need

The ingredients for a cheesy jalapeño bread made with sourdough starter aren't all that exotic, but you want to pay attention to the types of jalapeño peppers and cheddar cheese you choose.

It's best to use a medium to sharp cheddar for this jalapeño cheddar bread recipe. Any milder, and you won't taste the cheese, while anything sharper won't melt as well.

I use pickled jalapeño pepper slices, rinsed and patted dry. The pickling softens the peppers, and adds a nice saltiness to the spiciness. If you prefer, just dice 2 to 3 fresh jalapeño peppers for the filling and slice 2 additional fresh jalapeño peppers for the topping.

How to make a layered filled bread

The difference between this jalapeño and cheddar bread recipe and a normal sourdough bread is the layering. It's even different than a rolled filled bread like a babka.

We're layering in filling more like a laminated dough, think puff pastry or croissants. We'll get to that process in a minute.

Step 1: Make the dough

This yeasted bread starts like any other dough, like ciabatta bread or english muffins. Stir together the bread flour, unfed sourdough starter, yeast, salt, and water into a soft, pliable dough (photo 1).

Step 2: Layer in the fillings

Here's when we turn a plain ol' sourdough bread recipe into a sourdough jalapeño cheese bread recipe.

The goal is to have an even distribution of the cheese and peppers throughout the bread, so layering makes sure you don't get clumps of cheese and peppers in the bread.

Pat out the dough into a rectangle, then sprinkle some of the cheddar cheese and diced jalapeño peppers across it. Bring the corners over the filling, then pat the dough out into a rectangle again and repeat the process until all the filling is used, about four more times (photo 2).

Step 3: Allow the dough to rise until doubled

Gently shape the dough into a large ball, being careful not to tear open the layers you've just created (photo 3).

This is a vigorous bread dough, and you'll see that in this first rise.

Step 4: Shape the dough into rounds

Divide the dough in half. Now you can see all those lovely layers you created (photo 4).

Step 5: Slash the dough before baking

The idea with slashing dough is to control how the dough will split while baking.

You can use a serrated knife, but a more professional tool is called a bread lame (photo 6). It's a stylized handle for a razor blade that creates a much sharper cut, allowing for cleaner, deeper slashes. It's also great for creating designs.

Step 6: Bake the bread rounds

Jalapeño and cheese bread rounds are baked in two stages so the toppings doesn't burn.

First bake at 425°F for 20 minutes, then sprinkle them with the extra cheddar cheese and jalapeño pepper slices and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes (photo 7).

You'll know the bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom and a digital thermometer measures at least 200°F.

Questions asked and answered

Here are some questions that you might have...

Pro Tip: Shape the bread your way

The method I show above to fold in the jalapeños and cheddar cheese is just one way to create layers, similar to folding chocolate chips into scones. You can also use the rolling method like making babka. Pat the dough into large rectangle, sprinkle on the mix ins, roll up the dough and split the log lengthwise. Twist the two pieces together, then shape it into a spiral before baking.

Speaking of shaping, you can make one large round instead of two small ones. Just increase the baking time to 30 minutes at 425°F and 15 to 20 minutes at 400°F.

Or make Sourdough Jalapeño Cheddar Sandwich Bread: After the first rise, shape the dough into a loaf by patting the dough out into a rectangle and rolling it into a log from the short end. Ease the dough into a standard loaf pan sprayed with baking spray, cover, and let rise. Bake as directed for the round.

So much flavor in one bread

This Sourdough Jalapeño Cheddar Bread is spicy with a soft interior. Fresh from the oven, the cheddar cheese is ooey-gooey and oh, so yummy.

Delicious warm with butter, this spicy, cheesy bread makes a great accompaniment to a bowl of chili or anything you want to add a little bit of zing to.

You'll love having this flavorful bread in your repertoire for using sourdough starter discard!