I know it’s been a rough week when I start planning what I’ll be baking over the weekend on Friday night. It was one of those weeks. Therapy baking ensued.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s get to the cheesy baked goodness.

As an avid reader of Shutterbean, I owe Tracy a thank you for providing me with lots of new recipes to try, this one included. So here it is:

Cheddar Cheese Bread

makes 2  5 x 9 loaves

recipe slightly adapted from Rachael Ray Magazine 

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 5 ounces sharp orange cheddar, coarsely shredded
• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees . Grease two 5-by-9-inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. Using your fingers, mix 2 tbsp. butter into the flour mixture until well incorporated (it should look like sand). Add the cheese; toss to coat. Add the buttermilk and stir until the dough just comes together. Divide between the pans; smooth the tops.

Cut a shallow cross all the way across the tops of the loaves. Thinly slice the remaining 1 tbsp. butter. Place the butter in the cuts in each loaf. Bake until the top is browned and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in the pan at least 30 minutes before slicing.

**

I definitely did not wait the prescribed cooling period before slicing. How can any normal human being resist not one but TWO pans of warm, melty, buttery, fresh-out-of-the-oven-y cheese bread?! They can’t. Or at least I couldn’t. And it was just as dreamy as I had hoped.

Curious how the process looks? Oh, good. Because there are photos to share.

Shred up your cheese. Sneak a few bites. Get your dry ingredients whisked, mix in the cheese, and bring the wet ingredients to the party.

Stir it up until all the liquid is incorporated. It’s gonna be messy. Divide the dough in half and plop it into 2 greased baking dishes.

Now it gets really diabolical. Slash a little cross into the tops and shove some butter in there. Trust me.

Once it comes out of the oven, all golden and buttery and delicious, I dare you to try to wait long enough for it to cool down before you begin shoving pieces in your mouth like an animal.