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I’ve been making bread for a long time, and I would venture a guess that I have tried at least 100 recipes. 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.
As I have with many of my favorite bread recipes, I’ve turned this into a no-knead stand mixer only 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
Ingredients
- 2 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]
- 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.
Nutrition
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?
Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Quick and Easy Chocolate Snack Cake
Irish Soda Bread
Maple Walnut Rhubarb Crisp
Almond Brownies
Upside Down Grapefruit Cake
Peanut Butter and Jelly Kisses
Anadama Bread – Step by Step, Making Yeast Bread
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
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
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
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!
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