Jack Ziegler of Baltimore was looking for the recipe for the cheese bread that was served at the now-closed Hutzler’s department stores in and around Baltimore. He said that he used to enjoy the shrimp salad that was served on the cheese toast at the Westminster store. Ziegler and his wife have tried many times to duplicate the bread but have had no success.
Judy Rhoades of Catonsville and Nina Sevier of Towson both sent in recipes for Hutzler’s cheese bread that were clipped from The Baltimore Sun many years ago. The two recipes are identical but ran at different times in the past. Neither clipping was dated, but both claimed that it was the recipe for the delicious cheese bread that was served in the tearooms at Hutzler’s stores back in the day.
Laura Reiley, who tested one of the recipes for The Sun at the time it was first published, suggested that “in order to incorporate all the ingredients well, I would add salt, sugar, milk, cheese, butter and margarine to the water yeast mixture, and then slowly, one cup at a time, begin to incorporate the flour. You want the dough to be rather soft, so begin assessing it once you’ve added 8 cups of flour; you may not need all the flour.” I followed her advice and found that while this recipe was time-consuming, as most homemade breads are, the resulting loaves were delicious.
The bread was cheesy and soft and a little doughy in the center, but made great sandwiches, particularly when toasted or grilled. The recipe yields four loaves, so while it may take you the better part of a day to make, you should have plenty to enjoy and share or freeze for later.
Hutzler’s Cheese Bread
Makes 4 loaves
1 package (2 oz. dry) yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
9 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
13 1/2 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 1/4 Tbsp. each of margarine and butter
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Knead the dough, cover with a dish towel and set aside to rise until double in bulk, about two hours.
Grease four 4-by-8-inch bread pans. Divide dough in four parts and tuck it into bread pans. Cover with a towel and let rise again. Bake for 1 hour.
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