Caraway Cottage Cheese Bread is a recipe I originally shared about 4 years ago. It's a super flavorful no-knead bread that's perfect for serving as an accompaniment, but also sturdy enough for sandwiches thanks to the protein in the bread flour and the cottage cheese.
Bread Made with Cottage Cheese
This bread would probably be classified as a very thick batter bread -- the kind where you mix everything together, skip kneading, let the dough rise in the bowl, then transfer it to a loaf pan for a second rise. Cottage cheese is the hero, here. It adds moisture, structure and gives the bread a flavor that mimics sourdough. That said, when cottage cheese is used in large amounts, the overall hydration becomes harder to predict. Some brands are loose and whey-rich, while others are thick and dry.
Getting the Liquid Right
These types of breads are sensitive to hydration levels and the amount of liquid might vary from kitchen to kitchen. The original version of this bread called for only ⅓ cup of water. Over the years, the bread has consistently turned out best when I used 1 full cup of water, not ⅓ cup. I kept second guessing myself thinking maybe I was doing something wrong, but having made this bread so many times now with 1 cup of water, I've rewritten it to reflect that. If for some reason your cottage cheese is extra fluid or your egg is large and your batter is too runny, you can add a little more flour.
No Stand Mixer Required
A reader recently requested directions for making the bread without a stand mixer. And while a mixer makes this bread easier, I loved the idea of just being able to spoon everything into a bowl, stir, let rise, and bake. If you want to make it without a stand mixer, here's how:
- Put 1 cup warm water and 2¼ teaspoons yeast in a large mixing bowl. Let stand until the yeast is bubbly, about 5 minutes.
- Add 1½ tablespoons caraway seeds, 2 tablespoons wheat germ, 1¼ teaspoons salt, 2 tablespoons honey, and 1 tablespoon molasses. Use a sturdy spoon or heavy-duty scraper to mix until blended.
- Add 1 cup cottage cheese and 1 large egg, stirring until the mixture is well combined.
- Begin adding bread flour starting with 1 cup (130 grams) ands stirring well. Add another 1 cup (130 grams) bread flour. The dough will become very thick, sticky, and difficult to stir, which is exactly why the original recipe uses a stand mixer and paddle.
- Add the last cup of flour incrementally, stirring well with the scraper until you have a dough that is thicker than a batter, but looser than bread dough and impossible to knead. If you weighed the flour, you'll most likely use all 3 cups. If you measured by volume, you may use more like 2 ¾ cups. Go by the feel of the batter.
- Scrape the dough toward the center of the bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 to 1½ hours, or until puffy.
- Scrape the dough into a greased loaf pan, gently pushing out excess air so the dough deflates slightly. Spread evenly. Cover loosely with greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until the dough domes just above the pan.
- Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow and internal temperature is around 205F.
Smaller Loaf
Since we're a small household and don't need a full loaf of bread, I've tested half batch recipes in a small cube shaped loaf pan . If you like baking bread or giving little loaves to friends as gifts, I recommend this product. The little loaves are so cute.
Also, thanks goes to Alex Guarnaschelli for the original recipe. I've changed it up quite a bit, but she was putting cottage cheese in bread before it became trendy, and she's the one who mixed it with caraway, molasses and honey. If you are a cookbook lover or just learning to cook, here's a link to The Home Cook, a great cookbook by one of the best chefs and cooking teachers.
Related Recipes
Here are couple of other breads with cottage cheese -- Cottage Cheese Dill Bread and Cottage Cheese Sandwich Bread. The dill one is another old batter bread, while the cottage cheese sandwich bread is more of a standard loaf and does require kneading.
Recipe
Caraway Cottage Cheese Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1 ½ tablespoons caraway seeds
- 2 tablespoons untoasted wheat germ
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons clover honey (40 grams)
- 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses (20 grams)
- 1 cup small curd cottage cheese, whole milk** (230 grams)
- 1 large egg, room temperature (50 grams)
- Extra honey for brushing on top (optional)
Instructions
- Put water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir in the yeast. Allow it to sit until it bubbles (proof), then add flour, caraway seeds, wheat germ, salt, 2 tablespoons of honey, molasses, cottage cheese and egg.
- At this point you'll have a very thick mixture and will need to use the paddle attachment to mix. If dough feels extremely dry you could add a splash more water, but 1 cup should be enough. The dough should be thicker than a typical batter, but too loose and sticky to knead.
- Cover the mixing bowl and let the dough rise until doubled. This should take an hour to an hour and a half.
- Scrape dough into a greased 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pan, pressing out air as you transfer. Spread evenly. Cover with a greased piece of plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for another 45 minutes to an hour or until it's an inch above the rim in the center. Sometimes it's hard to know how long the second rise will take, so the most important thing is to go by what you see rather than the time.
- Shortly before you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Put the risen loaf in the 400 degree oven, then close the door and reduce the heat to 350. Bake for 40 minutes (may take up to 45) or until golden and loaf sounds hollow.
- Remove from oven. If you want to, you can brush extra honey on top.
- Let cool for about 10 to 15 minutes, then remove from loaf pan and let cool completely before slicing.
Anna says
Hi Ann,
Sure! I have only made this with a stand mixer, but you can surely make it without one just by kneading by hand. I'll make a loaf without the mixer and add new pictures.
Ann says
Can you please provide directions if don’t have a stand mixer?
Sue says
This sounds wonderful! Thanks too for the book recommendations. I love Alex G and miss seeing her on Food Network shows. We got rid of cable years ago and other than Food Network we really don’t miss it.
Back to the bread. I love the idea of these flavors. When no knead bread was a big thing I made a lot of it and loved making it. I think I’d have fun with this.
About Diamond Kosher salt. We haven’t been able to buy it locally for a couple of years now. I finally got frustrated and ordered it from Amazon. We had to order two fairly large boxes but we have no regrets. We both prefer it for almost every use be it baking or cooking.