Dilly Bread

for anytime you have extra cottage cheese in the fridge

Yesterday we enjoyed celebrating our daughter Eliza’s first Easter. This little bunny went wild for little nibbles of scalloped potatoes, green beans, and even this classic recipe for Dilly Bread. I am definitely impressed with her palate so far and I hope this trend continues!

Dilly Casserole Bread has been a favorite recipe in my family for years, and it comes with a fun history. This was the grand prize winner the 12th Pillsbury Bake-Off taking home $25,000 back in 1960. It is a batter bread, which is sort of like a quick bread because the dough is beaten in a mixer, however this bread uses yeast for leavening. There’s no kneading required and the bread is baked in a casserole dish.

There are a few unique ingredient twists in this recipe. First, there is a cup of cottage cheese in the batter. It’s wild how you can see the curds when it goes into the oven, but they magically melt into the bread creating a beautiful moist crumb once baked. My great-grandma particularly loved this bread. In fact, she used to get excited if she saw a container of cottage cheese in the fridge because she knew that there might be just enough leftover in there to whip up a loaf of Dilly Bread. The signature flavor of the bread comes from dried minced onion as well as dill seeds, plus some lovely coarse salt sprinkled on top. The result is great for breakfast, for snacking, or paired with an Easter ham like we did yesterday!

Dilly Casserole Bread

2 to 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons dried minced onion
2 teaspoons dill seed
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 packet active dry yeast
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup small curd creamed cottage cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Coarse salt or Maldon sea salt flakes, for sprinkling

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, onion, dill seed, 1 teaspoon salt, baking soda and yeast; mix well.

In small saucepan, heat water, 1 tablespoon of the butter and cottage cheese until very warm (120 to 130°F.). Add warm liquid and egg to flour mixture; blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed.

By hand, stir in remaining 1 to 1 2/3 cups flour to form a stiff batter. Cover loosely with greased plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place (80 to 85°F.) until light and doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes.

Generously grease 1 1/2 or 2-quart casserole. Stir down batter to remove all air bubbles. Turn into greased casserole. Cover; let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size, 30 to 45 minutes.

Heat oven to 350°F. Uncover dough. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until loaf is deep golden brown and sounds hollow when lightly tapped. If necessary, cover with foil to prevent overbrowning. Remove from casserole; place on wire rack. Brush loaf with 1 tablespoon melted butter; sprinkle with coarse salt or Maldon sea salt flakes. Cool 15 minutes. Serve warm or cool.