Cheddar, Jalapeno and Dill Pull-Apart Bread

I love cheese bread. I buy it from the supermarket when I have a craving for it, but lately I've been thinking that it would be great to be able to make my own whenever I want. I came across a couple of different recipes for cheddar pull-apart bread and it sounded amazing.

This recipe is based on the jalapeno and cheese pull-apart bread recipe on Amy's Cooking Adventures, with a couple of tweaks based on my taste preferences (namely more dill and more cheese). I also looked at the recipe for cheddar, beer and mustard pull-apart bread on Smitten Kitchen as another guide to the process for making pull-apart bread.

I don't have a mixer because I barely ever bake (though I'm hoping to change that), so my instructions are for those of you who will be making this the old-fashioned way. It was surprisingly easy, especially considering it was my first attempt at ever making bread from scratch.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of warm water (1/2 cup to dissolve the yeast, 1 cup added afterwards with spices)
• 1 package of instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of dried dill (1 teaspoon added to yeast mixture, 1 teaspoon added afterwards with cheese and jalapenos)
• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 2 cups of whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• 3 tablespoons of chopped jalapenos
• 2 cups of shredded aged cheddar

Dissolve the package of yeast in a 1/2 cup of warm water. Stir in the salt, paprika, sugar and one teaspoon of dill. Mix the flour in and stir until it starts to incorporate.

Knead the dough (and any unincorporated flour or dough bits left over) on a floured surface until it's still somewhat elastic but no longer sticky. Place it in a big oiled bowl and cover it with a damp towel. Leave it to rise for about an hour, or until it has doubled in size.

Roll the dough out into a rectangle, about 20 x 12 inches. Brush the dough with the melted butter. Mix the cheese, jalapenos and remaining teaspoon of dill and then spread the mixture evenly over the dough. Watch out when chopping the jalapenos. I once chopped peppers and washed my hands, thinking I had washed them well, and then took my contacts out. Big mistake. My eyes burned like crazy and I had to throw the contacts out. Not fun.

Cut the rectangle into five strips, each of which should be about four inches wide. A pizza cutter is probably the easiest way to do this, if you have one. Carefully stack the strips one on top of the other. It helps if you try to press the cheese into the dough a little bit first, because it is a little difficult to separate and lift the strips without losing everything that's on them. The strips also tend to stretch out a bit in the process. Cut the stack into six sections so that you are left with little dough squares. Using a serrated knife makes it a bit easier to cut the strips into squares without squishing them.

Stack the dough squares on their sides, not flat, into an oiled loaf pan. If you are a cheese fiend like me, feel free to sprinkle even more cheese on top of the loaf.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 35 minutes, or until nice and brown and all puffed up. It's best to eat it when it's still warm. Delicious!

I shared this on Under the Table and Dreaming's Sunday Showcase Party. Stop by and check out the other creative food and project ideas!