Jalapeño Cheddar Dutch Oven Bread

My family can eat an entire loaf of this jalapeño cheddar bread in a single day. This bread is the perfect mixture of a crunchy outside with a soft and fluffy inside.

Ingredients

In a medium mixing bowl:

3 1/2 cups bread flour or all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps kosher salt
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 large jalapeños, diced

In a large mixing bowl:

2 cups warm water
2 1/4 tsps instant yeast (1 standard 0.25oz packet)

Save for the top:

1/3 - 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
10 round slices jalapeno (or more, to taste)

Directions

To a medium mixing bowl, add bread flour, salt, 2 cups cheddar cheese, and diced jalapeños. Stir and set aside.
To a large mixing bowl (pretty large - your bread will be rising in this bowl), add the warm water and yeast. Water should be warm, not hot (like a baby’s bath water). Add flour mixture to the yeast and water, using a rubber spatula to stir it all together until no flour streaks remain.
Use spatula to fold the dough from the outside of the bowl towards the center, turning the bowl a little each time, until you’ve folded the dough in on itself 8-10 times.
Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, use the rubber spatula to fold the dough in on itself again, 8-10 times. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 more hour.
Halfway through this second rise, add your dutch oven, with the lid on, to your oven and preheat it to 450°F. If you don’t have a dutch oven, use an oven pan.
Let it preheat for a full 30 minutes. Set out a piece of parchment paper large enough to go inside your dutch oven with a bit of overhang.
Lightly dust a counter or cutting board with flour, and flour your hands as well. Turn out the dough onto the floured surface. Flip the dough over and brush off any excess flour.
Fold the corners of the dough in towards the center, about 6-8 times, until a rough ball is formed. Flip the dough over onto the piece of parchment paper.
Use a sharp knife to carefully score the dough (I like to make an “X”). Then sprinkle with the set aside toppings 1/3-1/2 cup of cheese and add sliced jalapeños.
Use oven mitts to remove hot dutch oven from your oven and remove lid. Carefully use the parchment paper to transfer the dough to the dutch oven. Put the lid on, and return to the oven.
Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove lid and continue baking another 20 minutes.
After you’ve removed the dutch oven from the oven, tilt it slightly and use the parchment to sort of slide the bread and parchment out of the pot. It will come out easily.
Remove parchment paper and let bread cool on a wire rack for 1-2 hours before slicing. Texture is best when bread is completely cooled before slicing.

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Recipe notes:

All purpose flour may be used instead of bread flour, but may result in a denser loaf.
Canned or jarred jalapenos may be used instead of fresh.
Active dry yeast may be used instead of instant, but when you add the yeast to the warm water, you want to stir to dissolve it and let it sit a few minutes before adding the flour mixture.
Other sizes of dutch ovens can be used, although I wouldn’t go any smaller than 3.5 quarts, as this bread will be right up to the top of the dutch oven. Keep in mind, the wider the dutch oven, the wider and flatter your loaf of bread will be. It will spread out to be the size of the bottom of the pot.
If your house is a bit chilly try placing dough by a heater, try running the microwave for about 30 seconds, then turn it off and add the bowl to the microwave or preheat the oven for about 2 minutes then turning it off allow first rise to be done the oven.