A no yeast bread that is super quick to prepare! I like to swirl the herb through it and I wedge chunks of cheese in the batter so you get lovely pockets of cheese and the lovely textured crust on top. But you could just mix it through – even faster to prepare!!
I don’t often bake with yeast because it requires patience for the dough to rise. Oh, and the kneading. I’ve actually got reasonable upper body strength. My challenge is my height. Sigh. OK, there you have it. I haven’t admitted this on my blog before but not only do I have abnormally small Baby-Hands, I am also vertically challenged. For those of you also in the same boat, you will understand when I say that kneading is much harder for short people because the work surface is higher and you don’t get the benefit of being able to push down with your body weight.
I can’t believe I just wrote that. How embarrassing. Well, now that I’ve started, why stop – here’s something even more embarrassing. Once when I was making a big batch of pizza dough, I wore stilettos in the kitchen just to make the kneading easier. It added 10 cm / 4 inches to my height so it made SUCH a difference! Oh, I’ve also kneaded on the dining table instead of the kitchen bench (lower = easier).
The ingredients of this no yeast bread are similar to a muffin but I altered the recipe to make it less crumbly, making it suitable to slice and even to toast. It is light, fluffy and super moist.
I like to add the herbs and slices of cheese in after pouring the batter into the bread tin so that you get “swirls” of herb and pockets of cheese in the bread, rather than almost invisible bits of herb and grated cheese all throughout which you can’t really see. But this step is optional. The easier and faster way to make this is to mix grated cheese and herb into the batter, then just pour it all into the tin.
This bread lasts quite well – really fresh for 3 days in a very airtight container, up to 4 is ok. Beyond 4 I would toast it and store it in the fridge.
Happy Easy Baking for Short People! – Nagi x
PS Doesn’t the nubbly top with bits of golden cheese that burst through look fabulous? It’s my favourite part of the bread. I was tempted to just slice the top off for myself!
- 4 tbsp fresh herbs , finely chopped (I used a mix of dill, rosemary, parsley and thyme) (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 5 oz / 150g block cheese (cheddar or tasty), cut into 2mm / 0.1" thick slices (about 10 to 12 slices) (Note 2)
- Butter for greasing
- 2 1/4 cups plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (See Note 3 for substitute)
- 2 eggs
- 2 small garlic cloves , crushed
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Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
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Grease a bread tin (21 x 11 cm / 8" x 4") or small cake tin with butter.
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Mix the herbs and olive oil in a small bowl.
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Sift the Dry Ingredients into a bowl.
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Combine the Wet Ingredients into a bowl and whisk to combine.
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Make a well in the centre of the Dry Ingredients. Pour the Wet Ingredients in and mix until just combined.
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Pour 1/3 of the batter into the bread tin. Dollop half the herbs across the top then use a knife to "swirl" it into the batter up and down, and also turning the batter over (refer photo below).
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Use half the cheese slices and push them randomly into the batter. Push some all the way in and leave some poking out of the batter.
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Pour the remaining batter over the top. Dollop and swirl the remaining herbs, then randomly wedge in the remaining cheese, pushing most of it below the surface of the batter. Even out the surface.
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Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden. Remove from oven and cover with foil, then bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes (total baking time of 45 to 50 minutes). Check to make sure the centre is cooked by inserting a skewer - it should come out clean.
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Turn the bread out onto a cooking rack. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.
1. You can substitute the fresh herbs with 2 tbsp dried herbs.
2. You can substitute with pre sliced cheese but I found it did not work as well because they are slightly thinner so they sort of disappear when baked. Cutting it yourself means you can cut them slightly thicker so you will end up with some ribbons of melted cheese in the bread.
You can also substitute with grated cheese. If you do this, mix it straight into the batter just before pouring it in the tin.
Tasty cheese is a common type of cheese here in Australia. A great all rounder and very good value. You can use any type of melting cheese with flavour / salt that you wish. Colby, Monterey Jack, cheddar, gruyere are all great! I don't recommend Mozzarella - it does not have enough salt or flavour for this particular recipe.
3. You can substitute this with 1 cup + 3 tbsp milk at room temperature +
1 tbsp vinegar. Set aside for 10 minutes until the surface of the milk curdles. Then use the milk, including the curdled bits, as the buttermilk in this recipe.
4. Store in an airtight container for 3 days (4+ days, keep it in the fridge and toast to freshen up).
5. Nutrition per serving.
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If you enjoyed this recipe, I think you’ll LOVE my Cheese & Garlic Crack Bread!
Made this today and loved how quick and easy the recipe was to make! The flavors were also great, but I felt the texture was too light and airy for my taste. Could I sub bread flour or whole wheat flour next time or would it be too dense?