Sun Dried Tomato Cheese Quick Bread

Savory Quick Bread Details

Flavor: Though the recipe calls for asiago cheese, fresh basil, and sun-dried tomatoes, the flavor can really be whatever you make it. This bread batter is very forgiving and we’ve tried it with plenty of add-ins including bacon, olives, feta cheese, and more. The base flavor is buttery and savory, with a hint of fresh pepper and garlic (feel free to add more!). Creamy nutty asiago cheese fits right in if you want to try that first! Texture: It may be difficult to wrap your head around a savory quick bread, especially when you’re used to banana bread and orange cranberry bread. But despite its loaf shape, this quick bread isn’t really like either. The bread’s crumb is more similar to cornbread—though there’s no cornmeal in the batter—and its exterior reminds me of biscuits or scones. It’s soft, moist, and slightly dense. Ease: This is a quick and easy recipe, but the butter step could be new to some beginner bakers. A pastry cutter or food processor makes this step quicker and more manageable, but you could certainly use a fork if needed. You’ll appreciate that this recipe delivers big as a bread and that there’s no dough rising or large time commitment required.(And if you need a suggestion, we enjoyed it with baked lemon herb salmon and a side salad!)

Plus, it’s wonderful as a side dish for most dinners including soup, chili, salad, chicken meatballs, and more.

Recipe Testing This Savory Quick Bread

When I began working on this recipe, I started by using olive oil as the fat in the batter. The resulting texture was too cake-like—honestly, it was just a confusing piece of bread/cake because the texture screamed “sweet!” but the flavor was savory and salty. It didn’t go over well with many taste testers! I tried melted butter, but the results were mediocre at best—still a lot of that contradicting flavor and texture. *Cut in Cold Butter: Using the same amount of butter but adding it in a different way was the fix the bread (and all of us!) craved. The texture had an instant improvement. Oh, the magic of butter. Make sure it’s extra cold and work the butter into the dry ingredients until coarse crumbs form, just like we do with pie crust: After you cut the butter into the dry ingredients, mix in the cheese and add-in (sun-dried tomatoes, if using), then mix in your wet ingredients. The batter is thick, chunky, and sticky. You cannot bake this batter on a baking sheet because it’s quite loose. For other pan options, see the recipe notes below.

Flavor Options

Think of this bread as having 3 add-ins including (1) cheese, (2) herbs, and (3) extras like sun-dried tomatoes. You can swap and substitute your favorites as long as you stick with the base recipe including buttermilk, eggs, flour, baking powder & soda, sugar, salt & pepper, and cold butter. Here are some variations: Any of these extras would be great in these savory ham and cheese scones, too! For a yeasted bread using similar flavors, try this rosemary garlic pull apart bread or this homemade cheese bread. Both have been extremely popular.