Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough Bread
A flavor-packed sourdough loaf studded with molten cheddar pockets and tangy heat from roasted and pickled jalapeños. Soft inside, crisp outside, and so delicious.
Servings: 1 boule
Equipment
- Dutch oven with lid optional but recommended
Ingredients
Add-ins:
- ¼ cup fresh whole jalapeños (3-4 peppers, depending on size)
- olive oil
- ¼ cup pickled jalapeños strained, chopped
- 6 ounces sharp cheddar diced into small cubes
Sourdough:
- 150 grams active, bubbly starter
- 330 grams water
- 10 grams salt
- 500 grams bread flour
Instructions
- Prep the add-ins. Preheat your oven broiler to high. Place 3-4 fresh whole jalapeños on a baking sheet and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Broil until golden, soft, and blistered, about 10 minutes*. Let cool.Chop roasted peppers into small chunks or thin slices, removing seeds if desired for less spice. Combine with ¼ cup chopped pickled jalapeños. Dice or grate 6 oz cheddar and set aside with peppers.
- Mix the dough. Combine 150 grams sourdough starter, 330 grams water and 10 grams salt. Whisk well to combine. Add 500 grams bread flour; stir into starter mixture. Finish mixing by hand, folding mixture until it forms a rough, shaggy ball. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rest at least 30 minutes.
- Give the dough a stretch & fold. Pull dough from one side and give it a long stretch, folding the dough back to the middle. Turn the bowl a quarter turn, stretch again and fold back to the middle. Repeat on all four sides, cover dough back up, and allow to rest again for 30-45 minutes.
- Add the mix-ins. After this first rest, add in the jalapeños and cheddar. Give the dough another stretch-and-fold.
- Continue with stretch-and-folds. Over the couple hours, give the dough a stretch & fold about every 30-45 minutes or so (doesn't need to be exact). Plan to stretch & fold twice more after adding the jalapeños and cheese.
- Continue bulk fermentation. After you’re done with the stretch-and-fold process, cover the dough and let it continue fermenting for another 1-3 hours, until dough rises by 30-50%, is jiggly and aerated, and has a few bubbles on the surface.
- Shape. Line a large bowl with a tea towel and dust it lightly with flour. Remove dough from bowl, pinching the dough together at the bottom to create a seam. Flip it over and pull it towards you a few times, rotating the dough and building tension to form a round boule.
- Bulk cold ferment. Cover the dough, place in the refrigerator, and allow it to rest overnight.
- Preheat oven. Preheat oven to 450° F.
- Bake. When oven comes to temperature, carefully turn your dough onto a piece of parchment, seam side down. Score the dough in any desired pattern using a bread lame or very sharp knife. Lift the parchment paper with your sourdough and lower it into the Dutch oven. Cover with lid and bake covered for 25 minutes.Remove lid from Dutch oven and continue to bake uncovered for another 18-22 minutes, or until bread is golden and cooked through. The best way to tell if bread is done is to take its temperature with a digital thermometer – it should be about 205 – 215° F.
- Cool. Remove from oven and gently lift bread out of Dutch oven, using the parchment paper as handles. Allow to cool at least 1 hour before slicing.
Notes
*Roasting jalapeños: If you don't have a broiler, you can also cook the peppers in a sauté pan over medium heat until they're charred all over and slightly soft.
How to know your bread is done with bulk fermentation:
After the final proof, your dough should look slightly domed, airy, and have visible bubbles just beneath the surface. It should have risen significantly, but it doesn’t need to fully double in volume at this point. The dough should be a bit puffy but still have tension in it.
👉 Try the fingertip test: Gently press the dough with a wet or floured fingertip. If the dough springs back slowly and leaves a slight indentation, it’s perfectly fermented. If it bounces back immediately, it needs a little more time to rise; if it collapses or stays completely indented, it may be slightly over-proofed.