Jalapeno Cheddar Sourdough Bread

Linda Kosteretz

A simple Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough Bread Recipe with TWO secret ingredient to make your taste buds jump for joy!

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Prep Time 4

Cook Time 45

Total Time 4 45

Course Appetizer, Bread

Cuisine American

Servings 1 Loaf

Equipment

1 Kitchen Scale To measure precise amounts of ingredients.
1 Glass or Ceramic Bowl For mixing dough.
1 Plastic wrap, plastic bag, or tea towel To cover dough while fermentation takes place.
1 Dutch Oven To bake the bread.

Ingredients

Sourdough

50 g Sourdough Starter
350 g Water
40 g Honey Bee Artisans Honey
500 g Bread Flour
10 g Salt
150 g Cheddar Cheese diced in cubes
40 g Candied Jalapenos

Candied Jalapenos

1½ lbs Fresh Jalapenos About 30 peppers
1 C Apple Cider Vinegar
2¾ C Honey Bee Artisans Honey
1 tsp Garlic Powder
¼ tsp Ground Turmeric

Instructions

For the Sourdough Bread

PREMIX: Weigh out your starter, water and honey in a glass or ceramic bowl. Mix them together well so that the honey is dissolved in the water (or at least really well distributed). Add the flour and salt. With the end of a wooden spoon, mix everything together. The dough will look “shaggy”. Cover your bowl with cling wrap, a plastic bag, or a damp tea towel and let it sit for about 1 hour.
FORMING YOUR DOUGH WITH STRETCH & FOLD TECHNIQUE: Using your hands to work your way around the bowl, grab the dough from the outside, stretching it up and folding it over itself. Repeat this for about 20-25 stretch-and-folds, until a smooth ball is formed. Once the dough is formed, tuck the cling wrap, plastic bag, or damp tea towel around the ball again and let it rest for 30 minutes.
CREATING STRUCTURE - STRETCH & FOLD TECHNIQUE: After dough has rested, stretch and fold one or two more times, then add the cheddar cheese and candied jalapeños to your dough. Repeat around 4 sets of stretch and folds with around 15 to 30 minutes between each set.
BULK FERMENT: Once you've finished your stretch and folds, place the cling wrap, plastic bag, or damp tea towel back over your dough and let it rest and ferment (see notes).
SHAPING YOUR DOUGH: Once your dough has finished its first ferment, it's time to give it some shape and surface tension. You can shape the dough into a loaf, a baguette, or a round, whichever you would like. Before you place your dough into your Dutch oven, give it a generous dusting of rice flour. Place your shaped dough into the Dutch oven, seam side up.
COLD FERMENT: Now that your dough is in the Dutch oven, cover it loosely with cling wrap, plastic bag, or damp tea towel and place into the fridge for a minimum of 5 hours up to a maximum of around 36 hours. The longer you leave it the better your bread will be! A longer cold ferment creates beautiful blisters on your crust and a deeper sourdough flavor. A blistery, cheesy crust is just fabulous!
PREPARING TO BAKE YOUR SOURDOUGH: Preheat your oven to 230C/450F. Place your Dutch oven into the oven at the same time. Let it preheat for about 1 hour to ensure your oven is super-hot. You know it best, so adjust the time if you need to, according to how your oven operates. Leave your dough in the fridge until you're ready to bake your sourdough. Placing a cold dough into a hot oven gives it a great “spring” in the final product.
BAKING YOUR SOURDOUGH: Now it's time to bake! When your oven is at temperature – 230C/450F, take your sourdough out of the fridge. Carefully place it onto a piece of baking/parchment paper. Gently score your bread with a clean razor blade or knife. Carefully take your Dutch oven out of the oven. Place the sourdough into the pot using the baking paper as a handle. Spritz the dough with extra water if you’d like, put the lid on and place into the hot oven.
BAKE TIME: 30 Minutes with the lid on at 230C/450F plus 10-15 minutes with the lid off at 210C/410F. If you're worried about the base of your bread burning, place a baking/parchment sheet on the shelf underneath your Dutch Oven - it works! Just keep an eye on this bread once the lid is off - the honey and cheese can make it burn easily.
COOLING YOUR BREAD: When you remove your dough from the oven, carefully remove it from the Dutch oven as soon as possible and place on a wire rack to cool.

For the Candied Jalapeños

Remove and discard stems from peppers (wear gloves), then slice into 1/4" slices. Set pepper slices aside.
In a large pot, add cider vinegar, honey, garlic powder and turmeric. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to about MEDIUM LOW temperature and simmer for 5 minutes.
Increase the heat to MEDIUM HIGH temperature and bring the mixture back to a boil. Once it boils, add the pepper slices. Again, bring it to a boil. Then reduce the heat again to MEDIUM LOW temperature. Simmer for 4 minutes.
Transfer the peppers (using a slotted spoon to drain) to clean glass canning jars, filling jars to within 1/4 inch of the upper rim of the jar.
With the remaining syrup still in the pot, increase the heat, bringing it to a full rolling boil. Maintain boil for about 6 minutes.
Ladle the syrup into the jars with the Jalapeño slices. Using a clean plastic or wooden spoon insert it along the edges of the jar to get rid of any trapped air. Fill jars to within 1/4-1/2" from the upper rim of the jar.
Wipe the rims of the jars with a damp paper towel, then screw on canning jar lids. If keeping in the fridge, label the jars. Refrigerate for at least 1-2 weeks (3-4 weeks for optimal flavor). Candied Jalapeño are good for up to 3 months if kept properly refrigerated. To extend storage time, you can water bath can the Jalapeños.

Notes

Keyword Candied Jalapenos, Cheddar Cheese, Fermented dough, Honey, Sourdough starter