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Apr 2, 2013

Gruyère Cheese Bread

This Gruyère Cheese Bread is dripping with melty cheese and is absolutely delicious.

Gruyère Cheese Bread

The dough for this Gruyère Cheese Bread is high hydration, which means it can be little hard to manage, but you really shouldn't stress too much about achieving perfect looking loaves.

After all, the goal is to have delicious cheese oozing out of every crevice of this bread.

According to King Arthur Flour, this recipe comes from French Pastry School in Chicago, and is one of the school's favorite loaves. The bread requires a starter that they mix and allow it to bubble up at room temperature overnight. The next day, they mix the dough and knead it, and after the first rise, they roll up a bunch of delicious cheese into the dough, like a giant cinnamon roll.

Gruyère Cheese Bread

This bread was a little awkward and messy for me to shape, but it was well worth the clumsy execution because this bread is just amazing.  You just have to work quickly and not worry about how the bread looks. Besides, it's not going to last very long anyway.

Gruyère Cheese Bread

If you like cheese bread, give this fabulous recipe a try.

While I used Gruyere cheese, you can use any good melting cheese you choose (such as cheddar, pepper jack, mozzarella, or provolone). I added a tablespoon of King Arthur Flour's pizza seasoning to the cheese and it was amazing. To make it yourself, try mixing some granulated garlic, dried onions, salt, pepper, some crushed red pepper, and some Italian season together to taste.

Update, February 2018: I just made this bread again to update this post, and it's just as delicious as I remember. I took new photos and updated the post to make it printable. It was well worth the revisit.

This is not the easiest dough to handle, but the challenge is so worth it.

More cheesy bread recipes:

Yield: 4 small loaves

Gruyère Cheese Bread

ingredients:

Starter
  • 149 grams unbleached bread flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
  • 113 grams cool water
Dough
  • All of the starter
  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons to 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water, depending on the humidity
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 418 grams bread flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
Cheese Filling
  • 283 grams Gruyère cheese, grated
  • 1 tablespoon of a mixture of herbs and spices of your choice (optional)

instructions:


  1. The night before you make the bread, mix the starter ingredients in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit overnight at room temperature. 
  2. The next day, mix the starter with the rest of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer for about seven minutes, until smooth. 
  3. Let the dough rise in an oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap until almost doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 
  4. Gently remove the dough from the bowl and pat it into a 9 inch by 12 inch rectangle. 
  5. Sprinkle the dough with the shredded cheese mixture. 
  6. Starting with the 12 inch side, roll the dough tightly into a log, and seal the seam by pinching it closed. 
  7. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
  8. Cover the log loosely with oiled plastic wrap, and let rise until puffy, about 60 to 90 minutes. 
  9. When the dough is ready, cut the log into 4 pieces, and stand them on their ends on the parchment lined baking sheet (like big cinnamon rolls). The cheese will kind of spill out, but that's okay. 
  10. Mist the loaves with water, and place the baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes until the loaves are golden brown and the interior reaches about 200 degrees F. 
  11. Cool the loaves on a wire rack. 

Gruyère Cheese Bread

Would you like to comment?

  1. Lovely loaves, Karen! I have never tried baking with Gruyere cheese, simply because they are extremely expensive! I have used a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella instead. These cheezy loaves are delicious with soup!

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    1. It is kind of pricey but I had to go for it =) Cheddar and mozzarella sounds like an amazing combination.

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    2. I found gruyere at Walmart for 1/2 of what it is every where else. Take a look.

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  2. They look fabulous! Will definitely bake them soon.

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  3. They must have been eaten REALLY fast because there are no pictures of the inside :o) Great loaves, Karen. These will definitely be baked again in my house. Btw, don't forget to link up your post on the ABC blog.

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  4. Sorry, never mind. You already linked it up :o)

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    1. I want to try this again and see if I can get beehives like yours!

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    2. Ha ha. I actually like yours better :o)

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  5. Whoa, these loaves look amazing. I need to try them ASAP!!!

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    1. Oh Liz you should. It's a challenge getting it to stand up, but watching it bake and the cheese darken is a beautiful thing.

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  6. o yes, these look good! I love the Gruyère inside too, but maybe next time I give another kind of cheese a chance. Love it when cheese gets so cripsy and dark golden on top, delicious.

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  7. I have just discovered gruyere and am looking for great ways to use it. Just found one. Thanks. Def trying this one.

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  8. Very pretty. And listen to Hanaâ, you have more crusty cheese bits with your smaller loaves, than if you make the large "beehives". Next time I would go for even smaller ones, like pin wheels.

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  9. I love adding cheese to my breads. These loaves sound so good, perfect with a comforting dinner

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  10. Best hot, I agree. And I just love Gruyere!! Makes everything better.

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  11. Holy cow do those look good! I love all the cheese coming out of them and you'd never know the execution wasn't perfect because they look amazing!

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    1. It's always a "hold your breath" experience with this dough, but well worth it. Thanks!

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  12. I think they look absolutely amazing. I would be proud to serve these.

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  13. Oozing cheese...oh yeah!!! I think I can handle that! Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck - Colleen

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  14. I am drooling over this bread. My weakness is cheese and bread. This is super yummy. I am making a soup for Friday and this will go amazing with it. I cannot wait to try it!

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    1. It's my weakness too. Let me know how it goes!

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  15. Woohoo, I was right - a cheesey, savory, cinnamon roll! Yum.

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  16. These looks so delicious, so cheesy and indulgent. Must. Make. Soon.

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    1. Thank you! I hope you do! You'll love it.

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  17. I want this bread right now. It looks so delicious.

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  18. They look so delicious. My favorite cheese!

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  19. I can't stop staring at the cheese in this bread!! I am terrible at bread making so I don't usually try but I can't wait to try this one!!

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    1. Awww. Jennifer, thanks! No matter how the bread looks, it still tastes great!

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  20. This looks SO AMAZING! Love the cheese in this bread!

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