Cheese bread refers to any bread that includes cheese or upon which cheese is topped. In its loosest definition, most pizzas would fall into the cheese bread category since they are topped with cheese, and some even contain cheese in the dough. Traditionally, cheese bread is really bread with cheese baked inside it, which can give a burst of flavor to any bread.
There are numerous recipes for cheese breads. Some of these are strictly Italian like parmesan or asiago cheese bread. These may feature hard crusts, and include a small amount of grated cheese in order to flavor up the bread. Other versions of cheese bread add garlic jack, cheddar, blue cheese, and virtually any other cheese you can think of.
A few cheeses don’t lend themselves well to cheese bread. Most soft cheeses like brie, or camembert are difficult to mix in with bread dough. You will see a few cheese breads that are either topped with cream cheese or include it as an ingredient. Most of these breads tend to rely on hard to semi-hard cheeses, which will melt nicely into the dough when baked and produce a lot of flavor.
When you make cheese bread, you frequently need to lower the salt levels in your bread recipes. Also, when you eat cheese bread, you should check sodium levels in the bread if you’re on a reduced sodium diet. Most of these bread styles will be quite high in sodium. You can’t completely eliminate salt from cheese bread since salt is needed to inhibit the growth of the yeast. You should use the minimum amount, in order to keep the bread from tasting too salty.
Many simple recipes for various kinds of cheese bread exist on the Internet. While you can bake these in your bread maker, these breads may be better mixed and risen in the bread maker and then formed into loaves for baking. Most recipes for cheese breads for bread makers merely add grated cheese, and often a few herbs to produce delicious loaves or buns. Some recipes also suggest adding a little grated cheese to the top of a loaf.
A recent trend at many pizza restaurants is to make a simple cheese bread to serve as an appetizer. These tend to be made with regular pizza dough, which may include parmesan, and then they are topped with a variety of cheeses. "Take and bake" chains like Papa Murphy’s® top their bread with a mix of mozzarella, cheddar and jack. These styles of bread look very much like a pizza and are made in rounds. They don’t contain as much cheese as would a cheese pizza. Yet if you’re looking for a warm, doughy bread, this style is a cheaper alternative than a regular pizza and can make for a good snack.
