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.
I have been making your recipe for about three years, always as a boulé in a Dutch oven. The other day, I tried it as a loaf pan bake. Firstly, I doubled the recipe. After all the stretch and folds, I split the dough in half, patted out a rectangle, the shaped it as a loaf. It rested in the fridge for 12 hours, then baked. It was some of the best bread I have made. The texture was closed crumb and it rose really nicely in the pan. I will definitely do this again.
oooooh I really love this idea because this is my favorite loaf for a turkey sandwich and a sandwich loaf shape would be much more practical. thanks for letting me know and for the comment 🙂
I wish I could post a picture to show just how beautifully this bread baked up! It is so soft and full of flavor. I will keep this recipe on repeat!
Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m so happy to hear that your bread turned out beautifully and that you loved the texture and flavor. That’s the best compliment! I wish there was a way to see your creation too! If you ever want to share, feel free to tag me on social media. Happy baking, and I hope this recipe stays a favorite in your kitchen!
Making this for the first time and it is cold proofing in the fridge overnight, so am I reading correctly that we bake from Cold or does the bread need to come to our temperature while the oven is heating up?
I bake from cold, but if you prefer to take yours out while the oven preheats, that is fine too!
I use the basic recipe for all my Sourdough breads to include mix in and just plan sourdough. Going to give cinnamon raisin a try today.
Hey Debbie, that sounds great! Cinnamon raisin sourdough is such a yummy idea. Happy baking—I’m sure it will turn out delicious!
Hi, do you think Monterey Jack cheese would work ok? I’m out of cheddar.
yes i think that would be fine 🙂 maybe add a touch more salt
First time making it and it turned out fantastic!!!
I’ve made this a few times now & it has turned out delicious each time! Thanks!
I have a question on the bulk ferment, it says 3 to 4 hours on the counter, what kind of rise are you looking for? 30% ? 50%? Thank you!
hey katelyn, at least 50%! you might want want to pop it into a slightly warm oven if your kitchen is cool 🙂
I have a small (1 1/2# loaf-sized) clay baker without a lid – also, it has to be at room temperature when put in the hot oven. Your recipe looks perfect, but can I bake it this way?
hey lee! the room temperture part will be no issue. i think the size. will be fine but i’m having a hard time picturing it. I think it should be fine 🙂
I love this recipe and have made it a handful of times. I have a question about fridge ferment… how long maximum would you do the cool ferment? I’m going to make this for Thanksgiving and was thinking about mixing it up Tuesday but not baking until Thursday. Would this work to have it in the fridge for that long?
Hi Tristen… I’ve left regular loaves in the fridge for 4 days with no trouble. The ONLY thing I worry about with this one is the moisture from the peppers continuing to soak through the bread. I would personally do it. But I can’t make any promises. 🙂
I made the bread last month and I did not finish the five minutes because by the time the 25 minutes was up with the lid off the bread was almost burnt looking so my question is in other breads they say to bake half the time or a little bit over at a high temperature, and then reduce the temperature for the next 10 minutes with the lid off. You say to keep it at 450 for the whole cooking. Is that correct?
That is what I do, but I prefer my crust browned. If you like yours lighter or softer feel free to adjust the temperature. 🙂
Well, here I am 18 months later. I have baked this recipe more times than I can count. My husband declared it the best of all the breads I make. I must say, now that I am WAY more experienced at sourdough bread, this one rises the best of all. I personally believe it is the cold pan start. The better than average overnight rise in the frig is the beginning, but then the oven spring is not thwarted by the too rapid sealing of the outer crust. I use a recipe that is 150% in size and bake it in my 7 quart Dutch Oven. This week, I am going to add chocolate chips are tart cherries instead of cheese and jalapeños. I will keep you posted.
patricia love this update so much. i’ve actually tried chocolate and cherries and it’s great.. look for the CHUNKS if you can find them instead of chips. i have a lot of theories on why my recipes rise better than others and i think it might be a higher amount of starter and the sugar. but i don’t know. thank you so much for the comment! 💕
Awesome recipe and bread turned out beautifully! I used honey instead of sugar and used SD discard I revitalized with a tsp of rye flour and a couple of hours on the cupboard until bubbling. And ended up proofing in the fridge for 12 hours. It was amazing! Thank you so much as my family agrees I will be making it often!! Wish I could share the pics in this post.
thanks susan! and you can always tag me on Instagram if you want to share a pic (i don’t really use it but i get a notification when someone tags me)
I love this bread. It is easy, the dough is nice to work with, and the cheese/jalapenos make sourdough “special” (like sourdough isn’t already special on it’s own 🙂 ). It has become my go-to breakfast, a toasted slice topped with fresh avocado. I’m curious, because it lasts only a day or two at my house, would you recommend doubling the recipe? I can’t imagine it wouldn’t scale up, just looking to tap into your wisdom.
thank you so much patty! yes it should double just fine! 🙂
I have been making this for about two years now and it is my family’s favorite sourdough recipe. It always turns out great! Thanks for a delicious but easy recipe! I like the overnight rise in the fridge as it gives more control over the temp rather than having it overnight on the counter like some recipes.
thank you for letting me know! it’s probably my favorite too 🙂
Question, some recipes I see people pre-heat their dutch oven. Do you recommend doing this?
I do! You’ll get a better rise. But sometimes I skip it!
This is definitely the most popular bread that I make for my family. Of all the bread recipes that I’ve tried, this one yields the best results. I think the key is the addition of sugar. Tonight I’m working on a batch of you cranberry orange sourdough.
I’m curious if you’ve ever tried to make a pizza bread version using sourdough, pepperoni and cheese? I would love to hear your thoughts.