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One of our family’s absolute favorites!
I’ve been making bread for a long time, and I would venture a guess that I have tried at least 100 recipes. I’ve probably thrown together at least that many with no recipe at all. When the girls were little, I often made different kinds of bread every week – so you know they had the chance to try a lot of different flavors. But, when I gave them the choice of what kind I should make, which bread did they always ask for? Cottage Cheese Dill Bread.
And I didn’t mind, because this is one of my favorites as well. It is light in texture, but still hearty enough for sandwiches, and the combo of dill, plus just a hint of onion is just amazing. The only reason I don’t make it more often is because I find it so utterly irresistible that it’s embarrassing. I have zero self-control when it comes to this stuff.
Let your stand mixer do the kneading
As I have with many of my favorite bread recipes, I’ve turned this Cottage Cheese Dill Bread into a no-knead stand mixer recipe – the only kneading is just to shape it. The mixer does the rest, while you stand back and dabble in bits of flour every minute or so, until it turns into a silky ball of perfect dough. If you don’t have a stand mixer, or you just like to make it old school, use a large bowl and a wooden spoon for mixing.
Cottage Cheese Dill Bread
Equipment
- Cuisinart Stand Mixer I've had mine for 12 years and it's still going strong
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons packages dry active yeast
- ½ cup very warm water
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups Cottage Cheese
- 2 tablespoons very finely minced onion
- 2 tablespoons dried dill weed [not dill seed] if using fresh, double the amount
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 5 to 5 ½ cups all purpose flour.
Instructions
- Place the yeast, warm water and sugar in the bowl of the mixer – stir with a small spoon, just to moisten all of the yeast. Let sit for about 10 minutes – the mixture will foam up.
- Use the paddle attachment and add the cottage cheese, onion, dill weed and salt. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
- Switch to the dough hook, and mix in 3 cups of the flour, which you can add all at once, but keep the speed very slow at first – leave the mixer running about 2 minutes. Add another cup of flour, mix until completely incorporated. Repeat with a 4th cup of flour.
- Leave the mixer running, and add additional flour, ¼ cup at a time, mixing until each addition is completely incorporated. This may take anywhere from ¼ of a cup to a whole cup. When the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, and gathers around the hook, you are getting close. Keep mixing for about a minute and turn the mixer off. Test the dough by poking it with a finger – it should not stick readily. If it still sticks, add another ¼ cup, and when that is all mixed in, test again.
- Once it is not sticky, knead on a medium speed for 5 minutes. {if you are doing this by hand, here is where you would start kneading it on a floured surface.} Flour the counter, and empty the bowl on the flour. Use a bench scraper or well floured hands to gather it into a ball, and knead it a few turns just to get it into a nice ball.
- Place in an oiled bowl and cover with a piece of oiled plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until it is well doubled in size. Punch down, and shape into two loaves. Place in well buttered 8 x 5 inch bread pans, and re-cover with the oiled plastic wrap. Let rise again, just until centers of loaves are above the edge of the pans – this is going to rise quite a bit more in the oven, so don’t let it get too high before you bake it.
- Brush the tops with buttermilk [which imparts a beautiful shiny top] or milk, and place in a preheated 350º oven. Bake for about 35 minutes. The top should be very well browned, and it should sound hollow when the bottom is tapped. The best way to be sure yeast bread is done is to test the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer – it should be 200º.
Notes
Remove from pans and cool on a rack. Store tightly wrapped
This makes particularly good toast [though I always say that – I love my toast!], or maybe you might like to try a toasted cheddar and Bread and Butter Pickle sandwich?
If you’re particularly fond of dill, you might try this Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup w/ Dill and check out another favorite bread recipe, Stand Mixer Italian Bread.
Ginger Nut Biscotti
Double Chocolate Banana Bread
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cherry Limeade Cupcakes
Swedish Visiting Cake
Fresh Ginger Cookies
Triple Threat Peanut Butter Blondies
Applesauce Quick Bread
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bundt Cake
Fruit and Nut Oat Bars
This loaf is brilliant my friend 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
thanks CCU – it is pretty awesome stuff!
delish!
thanks Carla!
Wonderful, as always, Donalyn!
Thanks Bebe – you always say the nicest things!
I think my aunt used to make this when we went to visit her. I’m glad to find this version, so I can try it out myself!
I hope you love it Damian – please come back to tell me how it worked for you.
Saw this on Foodgawker today, and had to come and get the recipe! That sandwich looks like a winner!! 🙂
Can this be made in a bread maker? It sounds so good!
Hi Patty – sorry for the delay in replying! I have never used a bread maker, so I’m not sure just how it would turn out. They are pretty big loaves, so the amounts may be too much. I would google the same kind of bread, but for a bread maker, to see if you can find one that is specifically meant to be made that way.
Just made this recipe. Delicious.
Thanks, Susan – so glad it came out well for you!
I love this bread. I passionately dislike cottage cheese, so I make it with whole milk ricotta and it comes out perfect every time!
Just found this recipe and I love it. I wanted to use my bread machine for mixing and raising, so I cut the recipe in half. I baked it in the oven and it made a nice big loaf. I also have fresh dill in my garden now, so I used that instead of the dry.
Like many folks, I found this recipe and I just finished having some. Awesome. I omitted the dill and onions and everything else was to spec. It smelled awesome as it was cooking.
Great work for a yummy bread recipe!
This is my families all time favorite.
Love your blog.
I used a 1/4 cup of my sourdough discard. Hate throwing it away.
EVERY family function it’s always requested. Even made rolls.
Thanks for sharing.
Becca
Using sourdough discard is a wonderful idea- thanks for sharing!
This may be a silly question but I’m not used to making yeast bread.
How would you do just one loaf when it comes to cutting into 2 loaves and 2nd rise? Or would it be better to freeze the second loaf and just let thaw regularly?
Thank you
Mary – This bread can be frozen after baking – just wrap it tightly and use within a month or so.
Was surprised at so little water in the recipe. When I made my first two loaves today, I stuck with the recipe and both turned out on the dry side. Taste was good, but not as hood as other recipes.
My next attempts will add water during mixing and or kneading until dough is smooth and pliable.
JW
As noted in the recipe, the the final additions of the flour are added if the dough still seems sticky – when it’s no longer sticky, you wouldn’t add more.
Hi Donalyn. This recipe looks tasty! I’ve got a couple of tubs of cottage cheese and some left over fresh dill who are screaming to be turned into a delicious loaf of bread! So I’ve got a quick question if you don’t mind. I notice the recipe says to use dill weed. I’m assuming it would be ok to use fresh dill instead, yes? If so, would you recommend using the same amount of fresh dill or a revised quantity instead? Thanks in advance!
Generally speaking, using fresh herbs required about double the amount of dried.
I halve the recipe and make 12 buns out of it. Works out so well.
I made this bread without a mixer, so it took a little longer to knead all the flour into the bread. But it was so worth all the work and the wait. This bread recipe is probably the best one I’ve made so far. I will definitely be making this bread again and probably often.
I’ve bookmarked you page and plan to make this bread as soon as I get in fresh baking supplies
Is it 2 T or 2 packages of yeast?
It is 2 packages, though 2 tablespoons is almost the same. I apologize for the confusion!
this is very good bread!
my grandma made this bread for us and it was my favorite thing!
Thanks Mae – so glad that you liked it.
Mmmmmmm is all I can say
I think this is same bread my mom made when we were kids. The way it smelled while it was baking took me right back to her kitchen. It tastes just like home. 🙂
This is the easier bread I have ever made and really yummy. We all loved it!
Thanks Meaghan!
Hello! I found this recipe on Pinterest and I want to try it. Will dried dill work okay?
Yes, it will – in fact the recipe as written is for dried dill. 🙂
This is the second one of your bread recipes I have ttried and this one is even better than the first one. Thank you for teaching me how to bake my own bread. I’ll be trying more of your recipes now!
Thanks Dori!
You state at the beginning you need a stand mixer and 2 – 9 x 5 pans but in the instructions you say to put the dough into 8 x 5 pans. Which one for the amount of time to bake?
Thanks.
My apologies, Cathy – I fixed the error. It is 8 x 5 inch pans. Either size will actually work, but in a larger pan, the loaves will not be quite as tall. Thanks for letting me know ♥
This is my favorite bread that mom makes…been a fan for 47 years!! No offense, but, hers is better because,…well, she’s my mom! I’ll still leave your recipe 5 stars though🙂. I’ve eaten it 50 different ways, but the best is toasted with butter and honey! I love using cottage cheese in baking other things too. For example: replace the butter in juneberry and blueberry muffins with cottage cheese or cream cheese. Made cottage cheese biscuits with rosemary, basil, garlic and topped with a sausage gravy/Alfredo sauce concoction with spicy chunks of Italian sausage, peppers, mushrooms and onions on top…think ‘Italian biscuits and gravy!
So happy to find this recipe I recently misplaced mine this one is very similar the only Edition that I add to my bread is parsley this bread is very special to us and my family loves this bread I make the stuffing for Thanksgiving with this bread and here’s how I have to do it I have to make two loaves and I have to hide one loaf to give it time to dry and I have to leave one out is a decoy for my family to sneak little cubes of bread
Thank you Claudia! Making stuffing for Thanksgiving with this bread sounds like a very idea!
This is the second time I am making this bread…it’s so delicious and makes wonderful egg and bacon sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches or just toasted and buttered for a savory snack. This time I am going to give a loaf to a friend and turn 1/2 of the other loaf into croutons for a fantastic salad addition. The first time I made it I used Pullman bread pans and that is what made the spectacular sandwiches. I use a dough mixer for the mixing and kneading that also has a fermentation cycle for the 1st rise. To tailor it to taste for me, I use dry dill weed and double the amount…it’s fantastic!!!
Tammy – so glad that you enjoy this recipe – I love hearing how my recipes turn out for the people who try them!