Bread Machine Cheese Bread

This bread machine cheese bread recipe is simple to make and is quite delicious. It also looks great. I don’t know much about art… but this cheese bread loaf looks almost like a crazy Jackson Pollock painting! The cheese topping on this “abstract art” cheese bread loaf is certainly a conversation starter. The keys to this recipe are shredded cheese and butter. You can also improve your cheese bread by adding garlic, jalapenos, chives, etc.

Your family will love this cheese bread because it is a delicious bread for sandwich lunches. It is soft and tender. Moreover, this cheese bread is made entirely in your bread machine. Unlike some other recipes, there is no need to bake this bread in your oven.

Bread Machine Cheese Bread with Cheese Topping

Since this cheese bread recipe is done in a bread machine, it is simple & easy to make. It should take you only 5-10 minutes to prepare and then you let the bread machine do the rest of the work. Bread Dad also has a printable and “pin-able” recipe at the bottom of the page. If you like this recipe, we hope you will leave a comment below and give us a 5 star rating. Thanks!

Bread Machine – Garlic Cheese Bread

Ingredients – Bread Machine – Cheese Bread Recipe – 1.5 lb

• 7/8 Cups – Milk (lukewarm) – 207 milliliters – 7/8 cups of milk is equivalent to 3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of milk (if your measuring cup lacks the 7/8 marker)
• 3 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened) – 43 grams
• 2 1/2 Cups – Bread Flour (not all purpose flour) – 300 grams
• 3/4 Cup – Shredded Cheese – 84 grams – Use a strong tasting cheese (i.e. extra sharp cheddar) or the bread may taste bland
• 3/4 Tablespoon – Light Brown Sugar – 10 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Salt – 6 grams
• 1Teaspoon – Bread Machine Yeast – 3 grams – Not active dry yeast
• Optional – 1 diced jalapeno or 2-3 minced & fried garlic cloves or 2-3 tablespoons of thinly sliced chives/scallions (green stalks only) or 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning

FYI – Recipe was updated on 1/28/23 to add a 1.5 lb version to supplement the existing 2 lb recipe.

Ingredients – Bread Machine – Cheese Bread Recipe – 2 lb

• 1 1/8 Cups – Milk (lukewarm) – 259 milliliters – 1 1/8 cups of milk is equivalent to 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of milk (if your measuring cup lacks the 1 1/8 marker)
• 4 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened) – 57 grams
• 3 Cups – Bread Flour (not all purpose flour) – 360 grams
• 1 Cup – Shredded Cheese – 112 grams – Use a strong tasting cheese (i.e. extra sharp cheddar) or the bread may taste bland
• 1 Tablespoon – Light Brown Sugar – 13 grams
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Salt – 9 grams
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Bread Machine Yeast – 4.5 grams – Not active dry yeast
• Optional – 1 diced jalapeno or 2-3 minced & fried garlic cloves or 2-3 tablespoons of thinly sliced chives/scallions (green stalks only) or 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, silicone spatula, oven mitts, cooling rack and a bread machine.

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Key Ingredient – Shredded Cheese with a Strong Flavor

Ingredients in the Bread Pan

Instructions – Bread Machine – Cheese Bread Recipe

• Bread machine settings – 1.5 lb or 2 lb loaf, light color and “basic” bread setting.
• Unplug the bread machine & remove the bread pan.
• Soften the butter in a microwave. FYI – I like to semi-melt the butter for better “mixability”.
• Pour the milk & butter into the bread pan and then add the other ingredients (including the cup of cheese). Place the bread machine yeast in last and the yeast should not touch the liquid (until the bread machine is turned on and the ingredients start to be mixed together).
• Optional (but recommended) – For greater flavor, you can also add diced jalapenos, minced & fried garlic cloves, thinly sliced chives/scallions (green stalks) or Italian seasoning. For best results, just pick one additional “flavor” ingredient (i.e. just jalapenos). Place optional ingredient on the side of the bread pan and not on top of the yeast.
• Place the bread pan (with ingredients) back into the unplugged bread machine.
• Plug in the bread machine. Enter the correct settings (basic, light color & 1.5 or 2 lb) and press the “start” button.
• Optional – After the FINAL kneading cycle and BEFORE the baking cycle commences, sprinkle a little extra shredded cheese on top of the dough. For safety reasons, do not place your hands inside the bread machine.
• When the bread machine has finished baking the bread, unplug the bread machine and remove the bread pan. Wear oven mitts as the bread pan will be very hot.
• Remove the bread from the bread pan and place it on a cooling rack. Use oven mitts when handling the bread pan and bread as they will be very hot.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully and how to avoid common bread machine problems.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. It is ALWAYS fantastic to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes! Jump to comment section

Other Bread Dad Sections

• Bread Machines – My favorites
• Bread Machine Cookbooks
• Bread Mixes – Ingredient kits
• Bread Tools – Bread slicers, etc.

Tips – Cheese Bread Recipe for Bread Machine

• The tips below are designed to help bread machine “novices” and those who haven’t touched their bread machine in years.
• Click on our “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Bread Machine Recipes.

• FYI – The 2 lb loaf was the original version of this recipe. Given visitor requests, we also added a 1.5 lb loaf version on 1/28/23. Hopefully, the 1.5 lb version is as successful as the popular 2 lb version.
• Be aware that the 1.5 lb version rises to roughly 4 1/2 inches high (depending on your yeast viability, kitchen temperature, etc.). Therefore, unless you have a small bread machine, I would suggest starting with the original 2 lb loaf recipe first. Cheese breads do not rise as high as “regular” white breads because they have less flour (the part of the recipe that provides the structure for the rise)… and more cheese!!! Of course, the cheese doesn’t add much in terms of the rise.

• Use a STRONG tasting cheese (i.e. extra sharp cheddar) for the best results. Mild or bland cheeses are much harder to taste in the finished bread. Strong tasting cheeses will stand out more. Just make sure to pick a strong flavored cheese that your family actually likes (i.e. cheddar). Some powerful cheeses (i.e. Limburger) are scary!!!
• If you want to learn about the hundreds of different cheeses that you could use in this recipe, I would suggest that you read this Wikipedia article on various cheese types.
• Optional – For a “cheesier” appearance, you can sprinkle a little cheese on top of the dough after the second & final mixing/kneading cycle has finished (and before the baking cycle commences). However, don’t add too much shredded cheese to the top of the dough after the final kneading… or your bread top might become a sticky mess! Just a little sprinkle of cheese.
• Don’t use a softer cheese (i.e. mozzarella) as your bread crust “topping” cheese. Softer cheeses are more likely to darken significantly or turn black/burnt. Stick to harder cheeses if you add cheese to the top of the dough. The picture at top of the page is made with extra sharp cheddar on the top of the bread.

• Visitors – What cheese did you use to make this bread? Please leave your cheese selections & additional ingredient ideas (i.e. spices) in the comment section below. Your cheese bread tips & suggestions are a great help to beginning bakers!
• Some cheeses used by our visitors – Asiago cheese, sharp cheddar, Monterey Jack, Swiss Gruyere, Mexican hot cheese, pepper jack cheese, vegan cheese, etc.
• In case you are interested, here are some of the cheese bread tips & recipe enhancements posted by our visitors – Wendy posted “I made this bread and YUM! I added 1 TSP garlic powder and 1 TSP onion powder. It made it Delicious! I also used asiago cheese and buttermilk. Mind blowing taste!”, Jan Posted “Amazing!!! Made this today. Used sharp cheddar. Omg so delicious.”, Elena posted “Yummy!!! I made the dough in my bread maker and finished it in the oven, it was delicious! I used mostly sharp cheddar and some jack cheese. The last 5 minutes in the oven I baste the top with melted garlic butter and sprinkled kosher salt on top.”, Patrick posted “Loved it! We did one slight change though… We added 1/3 C of some finely chopped and softened jalapeno. Cheddar and jalapeno are meant to be together.”, Rebecca posted “I was craving a good savory bread and this is it! I used a blend of cheddar, Monterey Jack, and parmesan. And Italian seasonings along with an added pinch of oregano as well as a teaspoon each of garlic and onion powders.”, Carol posted “I used asiago cheese. Melted the butter with a clove of garlic. Used thyme (generous 1/4 tsp) for the seasoning. Water instead of milk and added 1/4 cup of buttermilk powder to the dry ingredients. Cut the water by 1/8 cup and added an egg to help with structure. A great basic recipe is so versatile!” and Richelle posted “We did Asiago cheese and 1/2 teaspoon rosemary, and it came out beautifully! Thank you for posting this delicious recipe”.
• More great visitor tips – Carol stated (on our Jalapeno Cheese Bread page) “I found that… using shredded versus small dice sort of hides any of the cheesy taste. It is important that the cheese cubes are small (about 1/8 inch). Otherwise the melting cheese leaves big holes in the loaf.”

• Do NOT use cold milk. The main problem with using regular milk is that people tend to use cold refrigerated milk and this can slow yeast growth. Try to use warm milk (or instant powdered milk mixed into warm water). However, you should also be aware that the milk/water should not be too hot because very hot milk/water can kill the yeast.
• This recipe uses bread flour (not all purpose flour). Bread made with bread flour is airier & fluffier than breads made with all purpose flour.
• Optional – You can create a garlic cheese bread (my favorite!) by mincing & frying 2 or 3 large cloves of garlic. I prefer not to use dehydrated garlic powder because garlic powder has an antimicrobial effect that slows or kills yeast. In my experience, when you fry the minced garlic, it seems to eliminate this antimicrobial problem (whereas just dehydrating the garlic does not).
• Optional – For a spicier cheese bread, you can add 1 jalapeno (diced into small chunks). Of course, always be careful when cutting up hot peppers as the juice & oils can irritate or burn your skin, etc. Many people like to wear gloves when slicing up hot peppers.
• Optional – Another way to boost your cheese bread flavor is to add 2 tablespoons of diced green onions (thanks Lisa for this tip!) or diced chives.
• Optional – Add 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning if you want to make a cheesy herb bread.
• Optional – Consider using buttermilk instead of regular milk if you want to make an even “richer” tasting cheese bread. Our thanks to Margaret for this tip!

• Use FRESH ingredients (i.e. flour) for the best results. Ingredients that have been sitting in the pantry for months can become stale or pick up weird smells & flavors. Try to keep your ingredients (i.e. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life.
• Airtight containers also help to prevent ingredients (i.e. flour and sugar) from absorbing moisture from the air. This extra moisture can throw off recipes (as it can disrupt the liquid-to-dry ingredient ratio in the recipe) and shorten an ingredient’s shelf life.
• If you want to learn how to make a bread machine bread without the dreaded mixing paddle hole on the bottom of the bread, you should visit our buttery White Bread Recipe Instant Yeast page. It will show you how to make the dough in a bread machine and then finish it in your oven.

• This recipe uses bread machine yeast (an instant yeast). It does NOT use active dry yeast. Active dry yeast needs to be pre-activated in liquid and it can take 10-15 minutes to activate the yeast. In contrast, bread machine yeast does not need to be pre-activated and is designed for bread machine recipes.
• If you haven’t used your bread machine in a long time, please buy some NEW bread machine yeast before making your bread. Old yeast can die or lose its potency and this will lead to bread that does not rise properly. Bread machine yeast may not be viable if it has been sitting in your pantry for years.
• If you are having trouble with bread machine bread collapses or bread that is too dense, you should visit Bread Dad’s sections on Why Did My Bread Collapse and Why Is My Bread So Dense.

• If you have a problem with a bread machine recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (i.e. using the right bread machine settings), using the correct amount of an ingredient (i.e. accidentally adding a teaspoon when a tablespoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (i.e. bread machine yeast versus regular yeast or bread flour versus all purpose flour), etc. Don’t “wing” things or “eyeball” ingredient amounts when making recipes.
• If you start substituting ingredients, you are experimenting and should not expect similar results to the recipe shown above. You can expect some successes but more potential disappointments when you start to experiment with recipes.
• Be aware that some bread recipes may differ slightly between different types of bread machines. Therefore, please read your bread machine manufacturer’s instructions for basic bread recipes (i.e. white bread or whole wheat bread) as these are more likely to work on your individual bread machine.
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a bread machine. The bread pan and the rest of the bread machine can get very hot during the baking process. This means that the bread pan and bread machine is likely to be very hot when you attempt to remove a baked good from the bread machine and/or bread pan.
• For more easy bread ideas, you might like to explore Bread Dad’s Bread Machine Recipes or Homemade Bread Recipes sections.
• Did you make this recipe? Did your cheese bread come out great? We would love to see a picture of your baking masterpiece! Please post a photo of it on Instagram and tag it with @BreadDadRecipes

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. It is ALWAYS fantastic to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes! Jump to comment section

Other Bread Dad Recipes

• Bread Machine Recipes
• Bread Recipes
• Banana Bread Recipe
• Quick Bread Recipes – Pumpkin bread, cranberry bread, etc.
• Cookie Recipes

Reference Sources

• Wikipedia, Bread
• Wikipedia, Bread Machine
• Wikipedia, Cheese

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. Beginning bakers learn a lot from your fantastic comments, tips & recipe variations. Moreover, it is ALWAYS fantastic to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes!!!

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• Bread Machine – French Bread
• Bread Machine – Italian Bread
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• Bread Machine – White Bread
• Bread Machine – Whole Wheat Bread
• White Bread Recipe Instant Yeast

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