Name: No-Knead Spicy Cheese Bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 13 h
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3 cups all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons Kosher salt; 1 teaspoon active dry yeast; 2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, divided; 8 ounces Extra Sharp Cheddar, diced into ½-inch cubes; 1 ½ cups lukewarm water; 1 large egg yolk

Description

A foolproof recipe for making No-Knead Spicy Cheese Bread at home in a dutch oven like a pro! No-Knead Spicy Cheese Bread is ridiculously easy to make (only 10 minutes of prep & 5 ingredients needed!), & it’s especially ridiculously easy to eat. Great with soup, chili, to serve at a tailgate party, or just as a snack!

Ingredients

Scale

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, divided
8 ounces Extra Sharp Cheddar, diced into ½-inch cubes
1 ½ cups lukewarm water
1 large egg yolk

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Instructions

Make the no-knead spicy cheese bread dough: About 12 hours before you’d like to bake your no-knead spicy cheese bread, make the dough. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, yeast, & 1 teaspoon of the crushed red pepper flakes. Whisk to combine. Add in the diced cheese, gently tossing the cheese to coat it in the flour mixture. This helps prevent the cheese from sinking to the bottom of the dough. Slowly & gradually pour in the lukewarm water, mixing the dough with a wooden spoon until just combined. The dough will look shaggy & will be very sticky at this point – & that’s totally fine! Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel & let rest in a warm, dry place for 12 hours.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit about 30 minutes before you are ready to bake the no-knead spicy cheese bread. Make sure one of the oven’s racks is positioned in the middle of the oven, & place an oven-safe dutch oven (at least 4-quart) on the rack, with its lid on, to heat along with the oven while it preheats. Once the oven is preheated, let the dutch oven sit in the hot oven for 20 minutes longer to really make sure it’s up to temperature – I literally set a cook timer for 20 minutes once the oven is preheated.
Prep the dough: Meanwhile, as the oven preheats, transfer the no-knead spicy cheese bread dough to a large piece of parchment paper. I like to quickly spritz my hands with nonstick cooking spray – it makes it so much easier to handle the dough without it sticking to your hands! Using a pastry brush, brush the surface of the dough with the egg yolk, then sprinkle on the remaining 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes.
Bake the no-knead spicy cheese bread: Once the dutch oven is up to temperature, very carefully remove it from the oven. Quickly & carefully remove the lid of the dutch oven, place the no-knead spicy cheese bread dough inside (you can just drop the parchment paper right in!), put the lid back on the dutch oven, & place the dutch oven back into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid from the dutch oven & bake, uncovered, for an additional 20 minutes, or until the dough is crusty & golden brown (see photos above for reference).
To serve, carefully remove the bread from the dutch oven. You can just lift the parchment paper right out of the dutch oven. Allow to cool slightly before slicing or tearing the bread – remember it’s got molten-hot pools of melty cheese! Devour! Enjoy!!!

Equipment

Notes

This no-knead spicy cheese bread is spicy – definitely spicy enough to let you know that the crushed red pepper flakes are there, but not so spicy that it’s overwhelming. If you have an aversion to spicy foods, you can simply scale back or omit the crushed red pepper flakes.
I have been making no-knead bread for several years, after first coming across the technique here. I have made it my own over time, but this method is literally foolproof!