Gooey melty cheese and slightly sour and spicy chilies are a match made in heaven. Put them in bread and you have something as close to perfection as is humanly possible. It’s just so freakin’ good. This is my recipe for cheddar jalapeno sourdough bread.

If you’ve been following me for a while you’ve probably seen my sourdough bread with cheddar, smoked paprika, and oregano.

It’s a wonderful bread and everybody loves it, and it really came to life as a variation of this bread. Mainly because I am in a household with people that have a hard time with spicy things, but now I couldn’t wait any longer. I wanted to make my version of this bread.

If you are just here for the recipe, you can press the button underneath to be automagically transported to the recipe:

The dough in this cheddar jalapeno sourdough bread recipe

Vitals

The dough

The dough for this bread is made of mainly bread flour with 20% whole grain spelt flour for some more robustness. The idea was to not have the taste of the cheese and chilies be overpowered as it would be with whole grain wheat or whole-grain rye.

The loaves are relatively small, but I like my bread this way since we are not that many at home anymore. My one kid moved out, the second one is on the way and my girlfriend doesn’t live with us.

You can easily scale the bread up to your preferred size.

The hydration is 80% for a nice and moist crumb and a longer shelf life. Make sure you use thirsty bread flour. If your flour cannot take as much water, take it down to whatever hydration is appropriate for your flour.

The inoculation is 20% which is perfect for a bulk fermentation of around 4.5 hours in all at 30°C/86°F. If it’s much cooler than that in your kitchen and you don’t have a proofer, scale it up to around 30%. If it’s really warm you may want to take it down a bit to 10% or 15%.

As always, if you want to play around with the formula, scale it, and change the quantity, those things can be done in my Bread Calculator here.

The conclusion of this cheddar jalapeno sourdough bread recipe

This bread has everything that I really love. Cheese, chili, and delicious bread.

The bread is crusty. The crumb is nice and moist and somewhat chewy. The spelt flour gives it some heft and a delicious taste.

If you are not crazy about the taste of whole-grain wheat flour because it’s a bit overwhelming, then spelt is your friend. More bready flavors, but not of the bitterness that you probably know from whole grain wheat.

Since the cheddar was cubed, there are these dots of melted cheese throughout the crumb. The jalapenos give it a good spiciness, not too much. Enough to get a tingle on your tongue.

The added chives give it a wonderful oniony and fresh green note. If you like chives, you can easily double the amount without a problem.

This is bread for snacking. You tear off a piece and eat it with glee.

Please share this recipe for cheddar jalapeno sourdough bread on social media

This is my recipe for cheddar jalapeno sourdough bread. If you like the recipe please consider sharing it with like-minded bread lovers on social media.

If you make it and post it on Instagram, please tag me as @foodgeek.dk so I can see it. That would make me very happy.

27th of October, 2022: The recipe was updated as I made my short-form video to values that are a little easier. The resulting bread will be exactly the same, but the regular-length video will not match, of course.

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Cheddar jalapeño sourdough bread

Course: All

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cheddar, jalapeños, sourdough bread

Course: All

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cheddar, jalapeños, sourdough bread

Servings: 2 bread

Calories: 1470kcal

Author: Sune Trudslev

Nutrition Facts

Cheddar jalapeño sourdough bread

Amount Per Serving (1 bread)

Calories 1470 Calories from Fat 297

% Daily Value*

Fat 33g51%

Saturated Fat 17g106%

Sodium 3705mg161%

Carbohydrates 228g76%

Fiber 15g63%

Sugar 2g2%

Protein 58g116%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Classic sourdough bread with a spicy and creamy twist

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Ingredients

Dough

• 480 g bread flour
• 120 g spelt flour Any whole-grain flour will work
• 468 g water
• 14 g salt
• 120 g sourdough starter

Additions

• 60 g pickled jalapeños
• 150 g cheddar, cubed
• 6 g chives

Instructions

Mix dough

• Add 480g bread flour, 120g whole-grain spelt flour, 14g salt to a bowl.
• Mix the ingredients with your hand until they are all incorporated.
• Add 468g water and 120g mature sourdough starter to the bowl.
• Mix the dough until there is no dry flour left.
• Let the dough rest for 1 hour to let the gluten network start forming.

Bulk fermentation

• Perform a set of stretch and folds. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
• Perform a set of stretch and folds. Before each fold, add ¼ of the cheddar, jalapeños, and chives. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
• Perform a set of stretch and folds, move the dough to a see-through bulking container, where you can monitor the growth and let the dough grow 25%.

Divide and preshape

• Divide the dough into two equally sized pieces.
• Preshape both pieces of dough into balls. Let them rest on the counter for 20 minutes.

Final shape

• Shape the two balls into batards and put them in oval rice flour-dusted proofing baskets.
• Put the proofing baskets in each bag and put them in the fridge to retard.
• Let me retard for at least 8 hours, up to 48 hours.

Bake

• Preheat your oven to 230°C/450°F, including your favorite baking vessel (cast iron pot, pyrex dish, or whatever) and a baking steel/stone. You can use a fan or no fan; it doesn't make a difference. After your oven hits the temperature, you should continue to heat for at least 30 minutes.
• Take out one of the doughs and sprinkle rice flour on the bottom of the dough.
• Flip the dough out onto your peel.
• Using a brush or your hands, remove any rice flour left on the top of the dough.
• Score the dough with whatever pattern you'd like.
• Add the dough to the oven and put the baking vessel over the top.
• Bake for 20 minutes.
• Open the oven and remove the vessel.
• Bake until the bread is done. This takes 20 minutes in my oven but may take longer or shorter in yours.
• Bake the other bread the same way and let them cool off completely before using.

Video