This Popular Cottage Cheese Bread Is Absolutely Delightful—and Easy To Make
Cottage cheese is certainly having its moment. It’s poised to be the trendy ingredient of the summer, and you’ll see cottage cheese in all kinds of recipes from salads to cottage cheese ice cream. But did you know that you can also make delicious, protein-packed bread with it? Cottage cheese bread is the invention of popular TikTok food creator Carolina Gelen (@carolinagelen), whose recipe video has more than three million views. “You won’t find this bread in any store,” says Gelen of her five-ingredient recipe.
@carolinagelen cottage cheese bread #cottagecheese #bread #homemadebread ♬ Sunday
Is the Cottage Cheese Bread Good?
Yes, it’s honestly amazing—crusty on the outside and spongey on the inside. Cottage cheese bread may seem odd, but it follows some of the same principles of other dairy-based bread such as brioche or milk bread. As an added bonus, each slice has about 15 grams of protein. It’s a perfect sandwich bread and a high-protein option!
How To Make Cottage Cheese Bread
This bread is so easy to make. I’m not very experienced at bread baking and Gelen’s recipe came out great.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1/3 cup lukewarm water
- 1 cup egg whites (from 7 to 8 medium eggs)
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 4 2/3 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
Directions
Step 1: Activate, blend, and whisk
In a mixing bowl, combine the active dry yeast and lukewarm water and set aside. In a food processor or blender, whizz the egg whites and cottage cheese, blending until smooth. When the yeast mixture is hydrated (and cloudy), add the egg-white-cottage cheese mixture and whisk to combine.
Step 2: Combine dry and wet ingredients
Whisk the dry flour to remove any lumps and aerate. Add the flour and salt to the wet mixture. Whisk to combine. You will be left with a rough, sticky dough.
Step 3: A need for kneading
Dust a work surface with flour and place the dough on it, and dust your hands as well to prevent the dough from sticking to them. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it starts looking smooth. Use a scraper to help lift the sticky dough from your work surface and continue kneading. Shape it into a ball and place it in a mixing bowl. Cover and proof the dough in a warm spot for an hour, until almost doubled in size.
Step 4: Punch down and pan
Line a 10×4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Punch down the dough to deflate. Roll it into a log and stitch the ends by pinching them together. Proof the bread in the loaf pan for 20 to 25 minutes, until it looks risen and puffed up. After the final proofing of the dough, make a slit in the middle using a sharp knife or razor blade.
Step 5: Bake it
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes. You can tell the bread is done baking when it sounds hollow after a gentle tap on the crust. Cool completely, then slice and serve.
Tips for Making Cottage Cheese Bread
- Try to weigh the flour, if you can, rather than going by cup measurements. The weight of flour in this recipe comes out to approximately 582 g.
- Use the right pan. Gelen uses a 10×4-inch loaf pan, but if you don’t have a pan with those exact measurements, use a larger one, such as a 10×5-inch loaf pan, or simply divide the dough into 2 halves and make 2 loaves of bread. A standard 9×5-inch loaf pan won’t work because the dough will ooze out on the sides. You can also bake the dough directly on a baking sheet—it won’t be as tall as sandwich bread, but it will still work.
- The bread will brown on the top quickly. If necessary, cover the top loosely with aluminum foil when it turns crusty and brown to prevent it from burning.
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