Jalapeno Cheddar Dutch Oven Bread

Jalapeno Cheddar Dutch Oven Bread is perfectly crusty on the outside, with a soft fluffy inside, and is made using simple ingredients. Deliciously savory with a bit of spice, it’s perfect with a pat of butter, or for grilled cheese!  Plus, this dough doesn’t have to sit overnight, so you don’t have to plan ahead to have great bread.

This Jalapeno Cheddar Dutch Oven Bread is one of those recipes that is so fun to make.  We also love easy bread recipes like my original No Knead Bread and Honey Beer Bread.  This is one of my Bread Recipes I know you’ll want to keep on hand!

DUTCH OVEN BREAD RECIPE

Are you a fan of those breads from the bakery, you know, the one’s with that deliciously crunchy crust and soft, fluffy inside?

Yep, this bread tastes just like that.  Except with plenty of sharp cheddar cheese and jalapenos!

All the nooks and crannies are just BEGGING for some creamy salted butter.  Although my favorite thing to make with this bread… is grilled cheese!  Seriously, it’s amazing.

I have another suuuuuuper easy no-knead bread on my website, but it requires a really long rise/rest time… so you have to make it the night before you want to bake the bread.

It tastes amazing, but I wanted to tweak that recipe to see if I could make a no-knead dutch oven bread that DIDN’T require a rise overnight.

Like most breads, it does have to rise two different times, however, it’s virtually hands-off, since you just fold the dough with a rubber spatula in between the rises… you don’t even have to get your hands dirty!

Let’s break it down… it may sound complicated, but I promise you it’s not, and I took step by step photos to show you.

HOW TO MAKE DUTCH OVEN BREAD

These steps correlate to the picture collage above!

1. Add flour, salt, cheese and jalapenos to medium mixing bowl.  Bread flour gives the best texture and rise for this bread, and I find shredding my own cheese helps it melt better.
2. Add warm water and yeast to large mixing bowl – then add flour mixture.  The water should be warm to the touch, but not hot.  Like a baby’s bath water.
3. Stir together and fold dough in on itself.  Fold the dough from the outside of the bowl towards the center, turning the bowl a little each time, until you’ve folded the dough in on itself 8-10 times.
4. Cover and let rise 1 hour.  Picture 4 is what the dough will look like after this first rise.
5. Fold dough in on itself again.  Same method as before, although you’ll notice the dough looks and feels a bit more elastic, like in picture 5.
6. Cover and let rise again for 1 hour.  Picture 6 is what the dough will look like after this second rise.  A little looser and more wobbly than the first time.
   1. Halfway through this rise time, preheat oven to 450°F with your dutch oven inside it.  Let it preheat the full 30 minutes.
7. Turn out dough and shape into a rough ball.  Lightly flour your surface and your hands, then flip dough over and fold the corners of the dough in towards the center, about 6-8 times, until a rough ball is formed. Flip the dough over onto the piece of parchment paper.
   1. Use a sharp knife to score the dough, spray with cooking spray (so the toppings stick), then add more shredded cheese and sliced jalapenos.
   2. Use parchment to transfer dough to dutch oven.
8. Bake dough with the lid on for 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake 20 minutes.  This creates a steamy environment for the bread to bake and rise, then when the lid is off, it let the bread brown and crisp nicely.  Picture 8 is right when I removed the lid, after it had been baked 30 minutes.
   1. Remove bread from pot and parchment paper and let cool for 1-2 hours.

ADDITIONAL COOKING TIPS

• FLOUR – All purpose flour may be used instead of bread flour, but may result in a denser loaf.
• PEPPERS – Canned or jarred jalapenos may be used instead of fresh.
• YEAST – Active dry yeast may be used instead of instant, but when you add the yeast to the warm water, you want to stir to dissolve it and let it sit a few minutes before adding the flour mixture.
• POTS – Other sizes of dutch ovens can be used, although I wouldn’t go any smaller than 3.5 quarts, as this bread will be right up to the top of the dutch oven.  Keep in mind, the wider the dutch oven, the wider and flatter your loaf of bread will be.  It will spread out to be the size of the bottom of the pot.

VARIATIONS OF THIS RECIPE

• MILDER – for a jalapeno flavor, but very mild spice level, try using pickled jalapenos.  The jar I buy from the store says “tamed” jalapenos.
• SPICIER – feel free to add additional jalapenos to this bread, or even mix in some serrano peppers.
• CHEESES – I opted for a classic sharp cheddar, but you can use any shreddable cheese you like.  Colby, PepperJack, mild cheddar, etc.
• GARLIC – sometimes I like to add a teaspoon of garlic powder to this bread to give it a different flavor profile.

MAKING DUTCH OVEN BREAD AHEAD OF TIME

Freshly baked breads, like this one, taste best when they are fresh.  While your bread will still taste good 1-2 days after it’s baked, it will always best the day of.

STORAGE

Bread should be kept at room temperature.  Refrigerating bread actually causes it to go stale quicker (at least with homemade breads), so keep it out of there for best results.

I like to store my baked bread that hasn’t been sliced, just out on the counter.

Once it’s been cut, I like to add the bread, cut side down, to a paper bag.

FREEZING

Baked bread freezes very well!  You can either freeze the entire loaf, or pre-slice the loaf and freeze it that way.

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT FOR THIS RECIPE

• Dutch Oven – this is the dutch oven I used, and LOVE, but it’s certainly pricey.  I’ll link a more affordable one below.  Bottom line is, this 3.5 quart size is the PERFECT size for a nice round loaf of bread.
• Affordable Dutch Oven – at more than 1/4th the price of the dutch oven linked above, this one is still a great quality pot, and it’s a 3.5 quart size.

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AND DON’T FORGET, IF YOU’VE MADE THIS RECIPE, LEAVE A COMMENT AND PLEASE GIVE IT A STAR RATING LETTING ME KNOW HOW YOU ENJOYED IT!

Recipe tweaked from my own recipe and Tasty’s.