.In my last post I mentioned I tested 3 to 4 recipes in a single night. One of which was a cake that sadly failed from rushing but on the flip side, this cheese bread was a success! Inspired by a food blogger friend, Nancy of gotta get baked, who made a similar quick bread and a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, I knew I had to create my own. After all, one quick peek into my fridge and you can’t help but notice stacks upon stacks of Kerrygold cheese that was in dire need to be used. I love this cheese!
I threw the name Irish in the title because after all, this cheese is imported from Ireland which by the way, if you haven’t tried it yet, you may want to get on that! 🙂 Truth be told, I’m not a huge cheese fan but fortunately, Kerrygold has a good variety which made it easy to find several types of cheese I never would have thought I’d actually love. You may remember my mushroom and onion grilled cheese sandwich; that was by far the BEST grilled cheese I’ve ever had. Imagine in the same process of using two different cheeses for a sandwich to achieve its mouthwatering flavor, this bread similarly uses two Kerrygold cheeses to achieve the same feel and added contrast of flavors. They are: Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese with Irish Stout and Aged Cheddar Cheese with Irish Whiskey.
The contrast of the salted, crisp, textured crust is softened as you bite into the body of the bread’s smooth and buttery interior. Because this bread focuses on using cubed rather than shredded cheese in the batter, you can be sure that with every bite, you’ll savor into a warm chunk of cheese. If you really want to amp the flavor of your bread, add a pinch of cayenne pepper and/or a small amount fresh green bell pepper to the batter. This will not only give the bread a nice pop of color but it will also help spice it up if you’re looking for an extra kick.
Cheesy Irish Beer Bread
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 8x4 loaf 1x
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 7 ounces (1 1/2 cups) Kerrygold Aged Cheddar Cheese with Irish Whiskey; cut in 1/2-inch cubes
- 1/2 cup Irish beer
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 large egg
- 3 ounces (1 cup) Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese with Irish Stout, largely grated
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Using a baking spray with flour, generously coat bottom and sides of a 8 ½ by 4 ½-inch loaf pan; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Toss in the cubed aged cheddar cheese and evenly coat all sides of the cubes. Break up any large cubes that may stick together.
- In a medium bowl, whisk beer, milk, sour cream, butter and egg until just blended. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients (flour mixture) until just combined. Batter will be thick and heavy.
- Evenly spoon batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle top of batter with grated Dubliner cheese.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until loaf becomes a deep golden brown and a skewer inserted into center of bread comes out clean. Be sure to rotate loaf halfway during baking. Note: test doneness at several areas to avoid a false positive result from the cubes of cheese.
- Allow bread to cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes before removing and transferring to a wire rack for additional cooling. Serve warm. ENJOY!
Notes
Alternative cheeses may be used.
If beer is unavailable, increase milk to 1 cup.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
Recipe adapted from (p.36) Quick Cheese Bread of Cook’s Illustrated Baking Book.