Remember how awesome cheesy bread was as a kid? It came in bread sticks or rolls (and now bagels), and your parents would sometimes bring it home and you would devour it like the rare and delicious delicacy it was. Unfortunately, as I’ve grown up, it’s stopped tasting so great. Something like an old knee sock that’s been dipped in cheez whiz. Rather disappointing, if I do say so myself (kudos if your local grocery store bakery makes better cheesy bread than mine).

Enter homemade cheesy bread. It is a total and obvious upgrade. There are plenty of ways to make bread that is cheesy in your own home. There is cheesy toast, where you don’t even have to make your own bread, you just apply cheese to bread, toast it, and off you go. You can add shredded cheese to your favourite bread dough. You can accidentally make pizza instead. Or you can do this.

This is a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen. These guys know their stuff. This bread is dense (though tender), cheesy, and a little bit spicy thanks to a hit of cayenne. It’s moistened with sour cream, and loaded with two kinds of cheese; cheddar and Parmigiano-Reggiano. And with soup, it is dynamite. Especially tomato soup.

Cheesy Bread

3oz Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, in large flakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp black pepper
4oz cubed cheddar cheese
1 ¼ cups whole milk
¾ cup sour cream
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×5″ pan very generously, and sprinkle half of the Parmigiano-Reggiano across the bottom.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Stir in the cheddar, coating it with the dry ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients separately, and then stir into the dry ones. The batter will be very thick.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan and sprinkle with the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.