Julie Clark
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Asiago Bread
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Asiago Bread has a cheese crusted golden crust with a fluffy, soft inside. It’s a homemade bread loaded with Asiago cheese and a hint of black pepper. It’s excellent served alongside our sausage tortellini soup or Italian skillet chicken.
The first time I tried Asiago Cheese Bread was the first time I ever stepped inside a Panera Bread, over 25 years ago. I was newly married and had a coupon for a free loaf of bread. And I’m all about free warm bread.
I stepped inside the restaurant and gawked at all of the egg soufflés, kitchen sink cookies and huge cinnamon rolls. Then my eyes landed on a loaf of cheese crusted Asiago Bread. I immediately knew what bread would be coming home with me that day. I served it with lasagna (Matt’s favorite), and fell in love.
A few years later I happened across a recipe for Asiago Cheese Bread. This savory bread recipe is a perfect Panera copycat recipe for that slightly tangy bread with a hint of pepper. I promise you’ll love it as much as we have over the years.
Ingredients for Asiago Bread
- Bread flour. Using a high quality bread flour such as King Arthur yields a crusty loaf of bread.
- Instant Yeast. Red Star Yeast is my choice for instant yeast.
- Salt, sugar and black pepper. All three will work together to season the bread.
- Milk & butter. Both ingredients add moisture and tenderness to this asiago bread recipe.
- Asiago. Last but not least, the ingredient that makes this a great bread. Aged asiago is a mild cow’s milk cheese that is more moist than Parmesan cheese or Romano. Buy a chunk of fresh Asiago, generally in the from of a triangle or wedge, and shred it at home.
Step by Step: How to Make Asiago Bread
Mix the dry ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Heat the milk and butter. Put the milk and in a microwave safe bowl. Heat the milk to 120-130ºF so that the butter starts melting. Make sure the temperature is just right so that it is warm enough to activate the yeast, but not kill it.
Combine the two. Stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture and mix on low speed using the paddle attachment until smooth. Add in 1 ¼ cups shredded cheese and mix just until combined.
Knead the dough. Gradually add in 1 ¾ cups flour to make a soft dough. Knead in the stand mixer with the dough hook for 5 minutes. Don’t add too much flour. It should still be a sticky dough, slightly sticking to the bottom of the bowl as it kneads.
First rise. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Add the bread dough to the bowl, then turn the dough over so the cooking spray coats both sides of the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel and let the dough rise in a warm place until it is nearly double (30-45 minutes).
Shape and second rise. After the dough is doubled, punch it down and use a serrated knife or dough cutter to divide the dough in two. Shape each piece of dough into a loaf. Place the loaves on a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper. Cover the loaves with plastic wrap or a clean towel and allow them to rise again for 20-30 minutes. The loaves may not rise much, but that’s ok. They’ll spring up in the oven.
Bake. Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Whisk together the egg and water in a small bowl. Brush the tops of the loaves with the egg wash, then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly golden brown. The internal temperature of the asiago loaf should be 190ºF.
One Dough, Three Shapes
As if bread with cheese inside isn’t a beautiful enough, there are three options for shaping this asiago bread dough:
- Asiago Bread Loaves. That’s the method we describe in the recipe card below. It makes two small loaves of asiago bread.
- Asiago Rolls. Divide the dough into 12 dough balls of equal size. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray, place the dough balls in the prepared pan in 4 rows of 3 dough balls. Cover the pan and allow the rolls to rise until they are almost double. Brush the top of the rolls with the egg wash, the sprinkle asiago cheese on the rolls. Bake the rolls for 22-24 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown on top.
- Asiago Bread Bowls. Divide the dough into 4 large dough balls. Allow the dough to rise about 20 more minutes. Brush the top of the large dough balls with the egg wash and sprinkle with asiago. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the top of the bread bowls are golden brown. Allow the bread bowls to cool on a wire rack. Slice off the top of the bread bowl, then use your fingers to pull out the fluffy interior, leaving at least ¾ inch bread on the bowl walls. Fill up the asiago bread bowls with soup. Broccoli Cheddar Soup or beef stew is especially delicious in asiago bread bowls.
Asiago Bread
Asiago Bread has a cheese crusted golden crust with a fluffy, soft inside. It's a homemade bread loaded with Asiago cheese and a hint of black pepper.
Servings 20
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Rise Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 55 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups bread flour* 424 grams
- 1 package instant yeast** 2 ¼ teaspoons
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 8 grams
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar 5 grams
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 1/4 cups 2% milk 10 ounces
- 2 tablespoons salted butter 30 grams
- 1 1/2 cups shredded Asiago cheese divided, 125 grams
Egg wash:
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon warm water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, yeast, sugar, salt and pepper. Set aside. 3 ¼ cups bread flour*, 1 package instant yeast**, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Put the milk and in a microwave safe bowl. Heat the milk to 120-130ºF so that the butter starts melting. Make sure the temperature is just right so that it is warm enough to activate the yeast, but not kill it. Stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture and mix on low speed using the paddle attachment until smooth. Add in 1 ¼ cups shredded cheese and mix just until combined. 1 ¼ cups 2% milk, 2 tablespoons salted butter, 1 ½ cups shredded Asiago cheese
- Gradually add in 1 ¾ cups flour to make a soft dough. Knead in the stand mixer with the dough hook for 5 minutes. Don’t add too much flour. It should still be a sticky dough, slightly sticking to the bottom of the bowl as it kneads.
- Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Add the bread dough to the bowl, then turn the dough over so the cooking spray coats both sides of the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean tea towel and let the dough rise in a warm place until it is nearly double (30-45 minutes).
- After the dough is doubled, punch it down and use a serrated knife or dough cutter to divide the dough in two. Shape each piece of dough into a loaf. Place the loaves on a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper. Cover the loaves with plastic wrap or a clean towel and allow them to rise again for 20-30 minutes. The loaves may not rise much, but that’s ok. They’ll spring up in the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Whisk together the egg and water in a small bowl. Brush the tops of the loaves with the egg wash, then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. 1 large egg, 1 tablespoon warm water
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly golden brown. The internal temperature of the loaf should be 190ºF.
- Allow the loaf to cool, then slice and serve. It’s also delicious served the next day!
Video
Notes
*All-purpose flour also works, but the bread flour yields more of a crusty bread loaf.
**Use active dry yeast if that’s what you have, but proof the yeast in the milk according to the temperature on the back of the packet of yeast.
***Knead bread dough by hand or use your bread machine on the dough setting.
This is also delicious with cheddar cheese or parmesan cheese.
Refer to the article above for more tips and tricks.
The calories shown are based on the loaves each being cut into 10 pieces, with 1 serving being 1 slice of bread. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. **
Nutrition
Calories: 126kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 315mg | Potassium: 55mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 123IU | Vitamin C: 0.03mg | Calcium: 112mg | Iron: 0.3mg
Adapted from Food.com
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If you love this asiago
I love Panera’s cheese bread/bagels. Had this recipe bookmarked for awhile and finally decided to make it yesterday. I messed up and added all of my flour to my mixer bowl in addition to the dry ingredients. I didn’t want to waste the flour mixture and decided to continued on with the recipe. They turned out well and taste delicious sliced and toasted with butter. I’ll being making this recipe again and curious to see whether there will be any difference when I follow the recipe.
I have the bread machine doing the mixing right how…..second batch this week! I sometimes mix asiago and parmeson cheeses, and that works very well, too. I just love this recipe!
Wonderful recipe. Thanks a lot for sharing this. I will certainly try it and post the feedback here.
Hi Julie !
I love homemade bread and this looks perfect!!
Thank for share this post.
I would like a asiago cheese bread they thet in a bread machine. I just got a bread machine and woul like a recipe for Asiagocheeseg
It would be great to have this bread with a cup of coffee for breakfast, thanks for sharing
This is the easiest bread recipe I’ve ever come across and it is better than store-bought…Thank you so much for posting your recipe. I mixed the dough in my bread machine.I put same ingredients. I followed all instructions. Froze half after shaping, baked the other half.
Finaly we saw great results. It was so delicious. But now I have some trouble because My husband loves it and he said he would never buy bread from store again 🙂
I myself can not believe that how yummy it is. I’m really in love with your recipe. Thanks for sharing!
My kids love cheese very much and I am sure that they will love when I make this bread for them. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Very nice bread, when the next weekend comes, I will do as the recipe you provide for my family, thanks very much
Thank you for sharing !
Excellent bread! I was looking for something to compete with Trader Joes’ Asiago Peppercorn bread. I accidently dumped all of the ingredients including the egg into the bread machine, but it still came out great! Everybody loved it for Thanksgiving!
Does this dough freeze well?
My loaves didn’t raise………….they were pretty flat. I used quick rise yeast (it’s all I had on hand). Could that have been the problem?
This bread recipe would be perfect for a breakfast sandwich. Kids are crazy over cheese! Thanks 🙂
I’m confused on the amount of flour you list. Ingredients say 3 3/4 and directions only use 2 3/4?