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This recipe makes the tastiest loaf of Sun-Dried Tomato & Cheddar Sourdough, with pockets of cheese and pops of sweet-tart tomatoes in each bite. Using active sourdough starter, the bread has wonderful flavor and a soft crumb. The crust acquires some of the cheesiness, too!
This recipe is sponsored by Wood River Creamery, whose award-winning specialty cheeses are handcrafted in small batches in Wisconsin.
Okay, so you like pizza. You like the glorious amounts of cheese, the sweet tomatoes, the bubbly golden crust… Well, this Sun-dried Tomato & Cheddar Sourdough is all of that and MORE, in loaf form.
And we can’t stop eating it.
Between the pockets of melty cheese,
bright, concentrated pops of tomatoes,
salty goodness, and a subtle tang from the sourdough component…. It’s incredible.
The crumb is soft with a bit of chew, and tiny bubbles from excellent fermentation. The tomatoes bring an intense sweet-tart flavor, one which seems to subtly permeate the entire loaf.
Perhaps my favorite part is the cheese that makes its way to the top of the bread, oozes out, and begins to form a cheese crust. Drool.
Wood River Creamery is located in Wisconsin, my home state! They produce award-winning specialty cheeses, handcrafted in small batches by Burnett Dairy Cooperative’s Master Cheesemaker. This one-of-a-kind, aged Cheddar Gruyere blend is creamy, nutty and delicious. It was the ideal choice for working into a loaf of sourdough because it melts beautifully, and bakes to perfection.
Just as in my Jalapeno Cheese Sourdough, you’ll fold in the cubed cheese and rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes during the 4th and final set of stretch and folds. Added earlier, it can negatively affect the fermentation, reducing the final rise in the bread.
In this recipe, you’ll simply soak regular sun-dried tomatoes in hot water to reconstitute them. Then drain and rinse to remove excess salt, and gently squeeze between paper towels before chopping into smaller pieces (if they are sun-dried tomato halves). That way, little pops of sweet-tart flavor are distributed in each bite.
This cheesy sourdough bread is a savory delight. Here are my favorite ways to eat it:
SCALE:
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Thank you for the recipe. Wondering if i can make 2 loaves using this recipe but one filled with Walnut and Fig? any adjustment needed? how do you determine your starter % – i noticed that your % range between 12-13% ? Thank you
Hi Germaine! I haven’t tested this with walnuts and figs. You may want to try my Honey Walnut Sourdough as a guide.
Absolutely gorgeous tasting bread. Will be making this again in weekly rotation.
so glad you liked it, Suzanne!
EXCELLENT! This bread is wonderful and the flavors are perfect! Easy to make and will be in rotation with our summer tomatoes that we sun dried! We have made sandwiches out of it, my sister-in-law did a bruschetta with the one we made her. It is delicious toasted too! Another great recipe from Amanda!
Absolutely fantastic bread. It is INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS toasted (we have a toaster with longer slots for artisan bread).
so glad you liked it, Michael! thanks for letting me know.
This bread looks so delicious! Is it possible to ferment the dough 72 hours and if yes at what point would I do that? I’m looking forward to trying this recipe!
hi lynda! can you explain what you mean by ferment the dough 72 hours? did you mean at 72 degrees?
No, I meant leaving it in the fridge for 72 hours so that the gluten is reduced as much as possible. I am gluten intolerant, but when I ferment the dough in the fridge for 72 hours I am able to eat it.
This bread was so good! The bottom had a wonderful crunch, the amount of mix ins was perfect and the flavor was outstanding. I was skeptical when proofing and shaping since my cheese cubes were starting to poke out. But I followed the recipe to a T and it came out great!
yay! i’m so glad you liked it. happy baking!
Amazing! Another wonderful bread by Amanda! Due to the “snow storm” I wasn’t able to get the exact cheese (will be soon) but Amanda said another cheddar would work. I used a white cheddar with garlic and herbs and that worked well. Amanda’s recipes are so easy to follow and the results are always great! Cannot wait to make this and share with friends or give as a gift loaf. Wonderful!
Yay, so glad you liked the bread! I just love the combination of the cheese with the deeply flavored tomatoes. Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you.
Is the final shaping done the same way as with other sourdough breads? Meaning as aggressively since the cheese and sun dried tomatoes are inside?
You’ll find that there isn’t as much stretch in the dough because it is full of the add ins. It will come together in shaping quite easily.