Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough Bread
A jalapeño cheddar sourdough bread recipe that’s loaded with flavor. A beautiful crust, soft interior, and sharp cheese and spicy peppers combine for a loaf you won’t forget.
This is one of our favorite sourdough recipes of all time and one of the most popular on my blog. You won’t be disappointed ❤️.
The eternal problem with sourdough bread is that your starter has to be fed and discarded all the time and you are forced to bake bread constantly. And sometimes…. your favorite recipes get a little… boring.
And the antidote to boring bread? Adding cheddar cheese and jalapeños!
The best part of this bread is that it’s just as easy to make as regular artisan sourdough bread. The cheese and jalapeños don’t do anything to hurt the rise of the bread or anything like that. If you have made a successful loaf of sourdough bread, this recipe is going to turn out great.
Ingredients and Tools You’ll Need
A kitchen scale is helpful for any bread baking, but almost essential for sourdough. It is more accurate, less messy, and totally worth the cost.
Don’t be tempted to substitute all-purpose flour. Bread flour will give a chewy, crusty loaf and the hydration of this recipe is calculated using bread flour. If you can’t find it at your grocery store, you can order it online.
Keep your cheese cold and cut it into small cubes (about 1/4 inch) rather than shredding it. This gives you those gorgeous pockets of melted cheese throughout the loaf. Shredded cheese will disappear!
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups bread flour (450 grams/15.85 ounces)
- 1 ⅓ cups lukewarm water (300 grams/10.6 ounces)
- ¾ cup active sourdough starter, mature, well fed (165 grams/5.85 ounces)
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- ⅓ cup diced jalapeños, fresh or pickled (about 2 whole)
- 1 cup diced sharp cheddar (cut into cubes, don’t shred it)
- rice flour (for proofing the banneton basket – This makes a HUGE difference if you are having trouble with your loaf sticking to the proofing basket.)
How to Make Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough
Step One: Mix Ingredients (Other Than Salt, Peppers, And Cheese)
Combine the flour, water, sugar, and starter in a large bowl and stir. Use your hands to incorporate any dry bits. This is not a very high-hydration recipe, so it might look a little rough and somewhat dry. Just use your hands to combine everything into one mass.
Step Two: Rest
Cover with a clean, damp tea towel and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Step Three: Add Salt, Jalapeños, And Cheddar
After the rest period, add the salt, cheddar cheese, and jalapeños and knead for a minute or two until everything is thoroughly mixed in.
Step Four: Bulk Rise, And Stretch And Folds
Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for three hours, reshaping the dough into a ball once per hour. To reshape, pull from the outside in to reform a ball (stretch and folds). You can do this right in the bowl.
Step Five: Overnight Proof
Heavily dust a banneton with rice flour. When it is time to shape the dough the third time, place the loaf into the banneton and cover it with plastic wrap. Allow to proof overnight in the fridge.
Step Six: Prep For Baking
In the morning, preheat oven to 450℉ with rack in the center. (You can preheat the Dutch oven in there if you’d like.) Remove the dough from the fridge and turn it out onto a sheet of parchment paper, trying to have it land in the center. Slash the top with a lame or very sharp knife.
Step Seven: Place In Dutch Oven And Bake
Place the parchment paper and dough into a lidded Dutch Oven and put the lid back on top. Bake for a total of 55 minutes: 25 minutes covered, 25 minutes uncovered, and then remove from the Dutch Oven and bake directly on the rack for 5 minutes to brown the crust. Bread should be 200-210 internally when it is done.
Step Eight: Cool And Serve
Remove from the Dutch Oven and remove the parchment paper. Allow to cool on a wire rack 3 to 4 hours before slicing. It will stay at room temperature, tightly wrapped, for a few days.
Serving & Storing Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough
This loaf keeps at room temperature for 3-4 days when wrapped well.
For longer storage, slice it up and freeze for up to a month. To reheat a whole loaf, spritz with water and warm in a 350°F oven for 10-15 minutes.
Make It Your Own
- Try this with smoked Gouda.
- Poblanos are your friend if you want that pepper flavor without all the heat.
- This bread makes the best grilled cheese!
Related Recipes
- If your starter is low or you don’t have any, you can make it with yeast! Try my jalapeño cheddar no-knead bread recipe.
- Jalapeño cheddar sourdough is not an everyday bread, but these crusty sourdough rolls are something you will always want on hand in your kitchen.
- If you love Cheez-Its, make some sourdough cheddar crackers!
Printable Recipe
Jalapeño Cheddar Cheese Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cups bread flour (15.85 ounces)
- 1 ⅓ cups lukewarm water (10.6 ounces)
- ¾ cup active sourdough starter mature, well fed (5.85 ounces)
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- ⅓ cup diced jalapeños fresh or pickled (about 2 whole)
- 1 cup diced sharp cheddar
- rice flour (for proofing banneton basket)
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Instructions
- Mix ingredients other than salt, peppers, and cheese. Combine the flour, water, sugar, and starter in a large bowl and stir. Use your hands to incorporate any dry bits. This is not a very high-hydration recipe, so it might look a little rough and somewhat dry. Just use your hands to combine everything into one mass.
- Rest. Cover with a clean, damp tea towel and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Add salt, jalapeños, and cheddar. After the rest period, add the salt, cheddar cheese, and jalapeños and knead for a minute or two until everything is thoroughly mixed in.
- Bulk rise and stretch and folds. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for three hours, reshaping the dough into a ball once per hour. To reshape, pull from the outside in to reform a ball (stretch and folds). You can do this right in the bowl.
- Overnight proof. Heavily dust a banneton with rice flour. When it is time to shape the dough the third time, place the loaf into the banneton and cover it with plastic wrap. Allow to proof overnight in the fridge.
- Prep for baking. In the morning, preheat oven to 450℉ with rack in the center. (You can preheat the Dutch oven in there if you'd like.) Remove dough from fridge and turn it out onto a sheet or parchment paper, trying to have it land in the center. Slash the top with a lame or very sharp knife.
- Place in Dutch oven and bake. Place the parchment paper and dough into a lidded Dutch Oven and put the lid back on top. Bake for a total of 55 minutes: 25 minutes covered, 25 minutes uncovered, and then remove from the Dutch Oven and bake directly on the rack for 5 minutes to brown the crust. Bread should be 200-210 internally when it is done.
- Cool and serve. Remove from Dutch Oven and remove parchment paper. Allow to cool on a wire rack 3 to 4 hours before slicing. Will keep at room temperature, tightly wrapped, for a few days.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
By Katie Shaw
Katie shares simple, reliable recipes from her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband, three daughters, a chocolate lab, and over thirty chickens.
This recipe is perfection! Thank you!!!
Have you ever done a loaf with fruit and nuts in it? That’s my next “project”!
yes! cranberry walnut! the process is pretty much the same but I add a little more sugar.
Hooray!!! I’ve got dried cherries and pecans just waiting to be baked into a loaf. Thank you!
This bread has such a lovely texture. My jalapeño loaf only lasted 2 days!
Success!! I did end up leaving out for 3ish hours after pulling from fridge until it passed the poke test. Maybe didn’t let it proof enough on first go.
Used pickled jalapeños for this one but have a bunch fresh growing to use next time.
Smoked cheddar gave a great flavor.
wonderful! so glad you liked it!
Wow. This bread is so good and fool proof. Even I could make it! I used candied jalopenos from my garden and it was so delicious. Will be making again.
I’m so happy to hear that Rachel! we love it during jalapeño season too!
Hi Katie,
I accidentally left the dough out proofing for 9 hours overnight. Since it has cheese I’m concerned about safety. Is it still okay to use or would you throw it away? Or put it on the fridge. It’s also very wet I was not able to really shape it. Thank you!
Alison, I think the cheese would be fine in terms of safety. but its probably very over proofed. it won’t have any structure as it bakes and will be very flat. 🙁
Hi! About to make this…the recipe is missing a word regarding jarred/pickled jalapeños. I assume it is “drain” the liquid. Is that correct? Want to make sure before I get started.
yes, drain! 🙂 sorry about that
Just a quick question. Why the sugar? Does it affect the rise or proofing time, or is it just for extra flavor?
hi Charlie, just for flavor! you can leave it out with not much of a difference 🙂
Thanks. I’m doing this recipe tomorrow!
I have made this recipe at least 12 times now. It is almost fool-proof. I no longer measure the cheese or the jalapenos, I just toss in far more than the recipe suggests. I use a mixture of mild and hot pickled jalapenos. I have experimented a little and I like to let the dough rest once I pull it from the refrigerator if time allows. I have tried other recipes, but this is the best! The only problem I see is that I never want to make any other bread – this is just that good! Thank you to Hearts Content Farmhouse for this wonderful recipe.
you are so welcome Jeanne 🙂 glad you are enjoying it
I just pulled this loaf out of the oven and if it tastes even half as good as it looks and smells, this is a wonderful recipe! I’m new to making sourdough bread, but found this to be quite easy to put together!
I am using le crueset Dutch oven to bake, just transferring the parchment paper with corn flour to it. The bottom crust tends to be hard. How do I prevent this? Thanks.
try misting the parchment paper with water before you put the loaf on 🙂
I’ve made many loaves of sourdough, and this is the absolute best one I’ve ever made! The flavor is amazing and the crumb turns out perfect. I’m baking a second loaf this morning to give to a friend, with fresh jalapeños from her garden!
lucky duck to have jalapeños already! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe ????
Bread tasted great! Will add more Jalapenos next time and will preheat the Dutch oven for at least 45 min as I usually do when making bread. This time around didn’t get the rise I was expecting. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi! Two things. One, I don’t have rice flour, is AP or bread flour okay for dusting? And lastly, I haven’t gotten around to ordering a proofing bowl yet… a heavily dusted bowl work just fine? Thx!
yes they will both work. line the bowl with a tea towel and flour. VERY. heavily. it might still stick a little. there’s nothing quite as good as rice flour!
This is the best loaf of bread I have ever made. After removing it from the refrigerator in the morning, I accidentally left the dough on the counter all day and the dough doubled in size. Although I thought it was ruined, I baked it anyway and it came out soft, chewy, and picture perfect! Thank you so much
!
I am so happy to hear it Charlotte! keep baking 🙂
Can I use the bread maker for the kneading stage?
I don’t love it for this recipe- its such a brief kneading time I think the bread. machine would overdo it. a stand mixer would be better.
To conserve bread flour these days, I have used a combination of AP and high-gluten. I have also preheated my clay baker. This recipe is just absolutely amazing, and I have no idea what the hydration level of my starter is. This recipe is pretty forgiving in my opinion and has turned out great every time. At times, I have let it refrigerate up to
4 days before baking.
toni i am so happy to know it help well in the fridge, that is so helpful! I’m so glad you’ve been enjoying it 🙂
Does the hydration level of the starter matter? I have two starters, one is 100% and the other is at or just under 80%
Thanks so much for the recipe. I can’t wait to try it this weekend!!
yes this is with a 100% hydration starter 🙂
It doesn’t look like you are pre-heating the dutch oven before putting the dough in. Is that true?
correct. 🙂
Thanks. I’ve been wanting to try that. Seems like it would be a whole lot easier.
The bread turns out and tastes great! Why is my bottom burning? Seems like from the cheese.
Could certainly be the cheese. some People like to mist the parchment with water before baking 🙂
If I want to use all purpose, how much water should I leave out to make it work.
I would reduce the water by 25%. if it doesn’t come together as a a dough after the resting stage, try adding a bit more. but it makes a big difference.
My dough is not dry. It’s super sticky and isn’t forming into a ball. ???? I’m at the final proofing stage. Is it too late to do anything with it?
tasha, at the final stage the dough will definitely be sticky, that’s normal. just make sure you flour the liner very very well. (by the way did you use bread flour? if you try to substitute all purpose flour, it will come out extra sticky unless you reduce the water a little!)
I have a question! What if we were making this bread earlier in the day? Could we let it proof at room temperature for a few hours instead of proofing in the fridge overnight?
yes, absolutely. you’ll just need to keep an eye on it as the rising time will vary dramatically depending on the temperature of your room. for me, a room temp proof is about 3 hours, as a guideline.
Would all purpose flour work for dusting the basket instead of rice flour? Thank you!
any flour should work in theory. but honestly there is nothing like rice flour in term of preventing sticking. if you’re using AP just be very generous and turn it out carefully in the morning 🙂