Before we get started, if you are brand new to making sourdough bread, you may want to start with my How To Make Sourdough Bread: A Beginners Guide for an easy to follow step by step tutorial on good old fashioned plain sourdough. BUT if you’re ready to step up your sourdough game with some heat and cheese, you came to the right place. Let’s learn How to Make Cheddar Jalapeño Sourdough!
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A beautiful golden loaf of Cheddar Jalapeño Sourdough in a Dutch oven

 

SO, WHERE DO YOU START? WITH A Great STARTER!

Sourdough bread is perfect for the beginning bread maker. It’s very forgiving and this particular recipe requires very little kneading. So where to start? You start with a good quality Sourdough Starter. Starter is basically fermented flour and water. The bacteria in the starter is what makes your bread rise and gives it that “sour” flavor. In a perfect world, you would have a generous bread baking friend with a starter passed down from her/his great, great, great, great grandmother that you could nab. But alas, it’s not a perfect world, so I recommend you purchase some amazing Cultures For Health Starter. It’s a very reliable starter with simple to follow instructions and makes great bread. That said, if you are in Orange County, hit me up! I am not kidding, I am happy to share my starter with you. 

STARTER IS KIND OF LIKE A PET, YOU HAVE TO FEED IT…BUT NOT AS OFTEN

That’s right, to keep the bacteria in your starter alive, you have to feed it. When you receive your Cultures For Health Starter it will come with complete directions for feeding. BUT I can tell you, it’s super easy! Simply add flour and water and stir, then allow it to sit on the counter all day to get active and bubbly. That means it’s ready to be used for bread. I feed my starter once a week whether I am baking or not. 

How to Make Cheddar Jalapeño Sourdough:

NOTE: This tutorial is shown in five easy steps. There is waiting/rising time between steps. All that is spelled out clearly in the recipe.

1: The day before baking you’ll want to feed your starter and allow it to get active and bubbly. Each starter comes with instructions, follow the instructions for your starter.

 

Sourdough starter and flour in bowls on wood table

2: Once the starter is ready (8-12 hours after feeding), you will make your bread dough by combining only four ingredients: flour, water, sea salt and starter. Stir, knead a little, and form into a ball.

A bowl of rising bread dough on wooden table

3: Let dough sit in a bowl overnight to rise. Then pour out onto counter sprinkled with flour.

A woman's hands forming a round loaf of sourdough bread

 

4. Gently fold in cheddar and Jalapeño. Allow to rise another hour while Dutch oven and oven pre-heat.

Sourdough with chunks of cheddar cheese and Jalapeno slices before baking

 

5. Place dough on parchment paper and bake in a Dutch oven! Yup! That’s it. I told you it was easy. 

A loaf of baked Cheddar Jalapeno Sourdough bread set on parchment paper in a Dutch oven

The Recipe: How to Make Cheddar Jalapeño Sourdough

What you need: a Dutch oven, a food scale, and parchment paper.

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How to Make Cheddar Jalapeño Sourdough

Take your sourdough game to the next level with a little heat and melted cheese!

Course: Bread, Side Dish
Keyword: cheddar jalapeno sourdough, homemade bread, sourdough bread
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients
You will need to take sourdough starter out of your fridge the day before baking and feed it before baking. Follow feeding instructions for your brand of starter.
  • 500 grams bread flour
  • 1 1 /2 teaspoons  sea salt or kosher salt (plus more for sprinkling on top of bread)
  • 359 grams lukewarm water
  • 50-100 grams sourdough starter (fed, active and bubbly!) If you prefer a less "sour" sourdough use 50g, if you prefer a more sour flavor, use 100g.
  • 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1" cubes
  • 1/4-1/3 sliced, jarred, jalapeño slices
Instructions

  1. Note: Make sure you remove your starter from the fridge and feed a day before you plan on baking. I usually feed starter in the morning, let it become active as it rests on the counter all day (8-12 hours), form my loaves that night and bake the next morning. Do not refrigerate starter between feeding and forming loaves. Starter needs to be warm, active and bubbly when used. If you prefer to bake in the evening, you can certainly feed starter in the afternoon/evening and allow to activate overnight, form your loaves in the morning and bake in the evening. It's totally up to you!

  2. Note: be sure to set your food scale back to zero between additions.

    Place measured flour, salt, water and active starter in a large bowl and work with hands until you form a craggly ball (a rough ball). Cover bowl with a damp dishtowel and let rest for 20 minutes.

  3. Place dough on a counter surface dusted with flour and knead for a couple of minutes (no more than five minutes is required). You can add a little flour as needed to prevent sticking. Form into a smooth ball. Dust bowl with flour, place dough back in bowl, dust dough lightly with flour. Cover bowl with wet dishtowel, place a plate on top and allow to rest on the counter for 12-18 hours. During this time the dough will rise and become bubbly. (If it's cold where you live, try to place dough in a warm area of the house. Cold temps can impact rising time)

  4. (The next day) Sprinkle counter with flour. Remove dough from bowl, form into a round loaf. Fold in 1/3 of the cheese and jalapeño slices, then fold in another 1/3 of each. Your loaf will be pretty full and lumpy. Place the remaining cheese and jalapeño slices on the top of the loaf. Place the loaf on a large sheet of parchment paper. Set aside. Place a Dutch oven with lid on into the oven. Preheat oven and Dutch oven at 450 degrees for one hour.

  5. After oven and dutch oven have preheated for an hour, sprinkle bread dough lightly with sea salt if desired (I love a good bite of salt with my bread!).Use a knife to slice the top of your bread dough (don't go too deep, just an inch or two), this allows steam to release. Have fun with it. You can slice three lines, a criss cross, or four diagonal lines and one across as pictured above.

  6. Grab the sides of the parchment and lift bread dough into pre-heated Dutch oven. Place the lid back on and cook for 20 minutes. Remove lid and cook for 20 more minutes (total cooking time is 40 minutes. Crust should be golden and crispy). Remove from oven, place on a rack, and allow to cool a bit, enjoy! (Note: if you prefer a less crispy crust, or if your bread get too dark on top, try 25 minutes with the lid on and 15 minutes with the lid off)

 

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