Cheese & Bacon Loaf
Cheese & Bacon Loaf is a quick bread made with self-raising flour and eggs rather than yeast. That means no kneading, no proving, and minimal hands-on time. Just mix and bake.
Soft, fluffy and cheesy inside, studded with little pieces of smoky bacon, the outer crust becomes crisp with a taste of toasted cheese. Delicious spread with butter, an accompaniment to soups, salads, meats and cheeses or a treat for lunch boxes and picnics. Great toasted too.
Jump to Recipe
QUICK BREADS
The knockout, easy recipe I want to share with you today is a type of quick bread. Unlike regular breads, which contain yeast to make them rise, quick breads are made using raising agents like baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. This means you don’t have to knead the ingredients or allow for hours of proving time. Just mix them together, then bake. Hence the name quick breads. Perfect when you want to rustle up a loaf at short notice, these breads can be sweet or savoury.
Because they don’t contain yeast, quick breads don’t have the same texture as regular breads. But accept them on their own terms, and I think you’ll enjoy their soft, moist texture. The most famous quick bread is probably soda bread, and I’ve already posted my recipes for Cheese Soda Bread and Fruit Soda Bread. But my Cheese & Bacon Loaf is a little different: an almost cake-like loaf that’s deliciously savoury.
CHEESE & BACON LOAF
My Cheese & Bacon Loaf is based on another of my savoury quick breads: Cheese & Walnut Loaf. I think that both are lovely spread with butter as a snack, an alternative to Cheese Scones, as part of a savoury afternoon tea, to eat with soups, put in lunchboxes or for picnics. Basically, any time I want a delicious savoury bread, these will hit the spot. I admit the moist loaves take almost an hour to bake and you’ll need to let them completely cool before eating. But there’s very little hands-on work.
You’ll find detailed instructions and ingredient amounts in the recipe card at the end of this post. But, briefly, here’s how it goes.
MIXING CHEESE & BACON QUICK BREAD
With Cheese & Bacon Loaf, the first step is to cook some chopped smoked bacon. The free-range back bacon I used for the loaf in this post was quite lean, so, I fried it in a little olive oil. If you’re using a fattier bacon like streaky then you probably won’t need the extra oil to fry it.
While the bacon is cooling, you sift together self-raising flour, a little salt, and some black pepper. If you only have plain flour, add 2 level teaspoons of baking powder as well (not bicarbonate of soda). Rub in some butter, then stir in a generous amount of mature Cheddar cheese plus the cooked bacon. For extra flavour I include a teaspoon of the bacon’s cooking juices.
To bring the mixture together, pour in two beaten eggs plus some milk. Because different flours absorb different amounts of liquid, it isn’t possible to give an exact amount for the milk. What you’re looking for is a thick but not dry batter. I find 100 ml of milk does it. You may need a little less or a little more.
Now you transfer the mixture to a small, non-stick loaf tin that you’ve greased with a little extra butter. My tin that’s approximately 19 x 9 x 6 centimetres and has a capacity of 450 ml (known as a 1 lb tin in old speak) is perfect for this recipe. Lightly press the mixture into the tin, making sure it goes right into the corners, then smooth the top.
BAKING CHEESE & BACON LOAF
Just before putting into a preheated oven, don’t forget to sprinkle a little extra cheese on top. This will make the crust even crisper and even cheesier. Yum!
The loaf will take between 50 – 55 minutes to bake. It should be well risen, brown, and firm. If you insert a skewer or cocktail stick, it should come out clean. As the top might brown too quickly before the middle is cooked, I recommend you check for this at around the 35-minute mark. If your loaf is already a nice deep brown, then loosely cover it with foil.
When the Cheese & Bacon Loaf is done, carefully tip it out of its tin and transfer to a wire rack. Despite the gorgeous aromas coming from it, resist the temptation to cut a slice. Remember, it will have a cake-like texture. And you wouldn’t cut into a cake straight out of the oven, would you?
SERVING CHEESE & BACON LOAF
So flavoursome, this loaf is astoundingly good eaten just as it is with no adornment and nothing alongside. But I will never turn down the opportunity to slather butter on something. And the addition of butter to a slice of this soft loaf with its robust cheese and smoky bacon flavours really is something special.
That’s exactly how I eat it most often, but Cheese & Bacon Loaf is also great alongside soups like Scotch Broth, Quick Pea & Bacon Soup, or Creamy Bean & Pancetta Soup. Come the warmer weather then it will go just as well with salads and as part of your picnics. Try it in lunch boxes, or with meats and cheese boards, all year round.
On the day of baking, the loaf will have a light and fluffy centre and a slightly crispy crust. Over the next couple of days, it will have lost that fluffiness but will still taste good. If you want to keep it longer, the bread freezes well.
If you want to bring back some of that lightness, heating a slice in the microwave for a few seconds will do it. The crust will also be soft by this point, but I don’t mind that. The alternative is to toast it which, I’m almost tempted to say, makes Cheese & Bacon Loaf even better.
Slices are transformed into golden crispness while the cheesy and smoky bacon flavours are intensified. Wonderful spread with butter to melt in.
If you’ve made this easy, delicious quick bread, I’d love to know what you thought by leaving a comment and rating below.
Cheese & Bacon Loaf
An easy, quick bread made with self-raising flour and eggs rather than yeast so there's no kneading or proving.
Delicious spread with butter, an accompaniment to soups, salads, meats and cheeses or a treat for lunch boxes and picnics, it's soft and fluffy inside with a crisp exterior.
At its fluffiest on the day of baking, but then tastes great toasted.
Ingredients
- 175 g smoked bacon weight before rinds removed
- 2 tsp olive oil if using streaky bacon you may not need any oil
- 225 g self raising flour or plain flour + 2 level tsp baking powder
- 1 large pinch salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 75 g soft butter plus extra for greasing
- 140 g mature Cheddar cheese, grated divided into 120 g and 20 g
- 2 eggs beaten
- 100 ml milk approximately
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 180C / 160 Fan / Gas 4 with a shelf positioned just below the middle.
Butter a small, non-stick loaf tin (approx. 19 x 9 x 6 cm, capacity 450ml or 1 lb).
-
Discard any rinds, then cut the bacon into small pieces.
If your bacon is lean (e.g. back bacon): put the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot add the bacon.
If you have fattier bacon (e.g. streaky): omit the oil and put the bacon into a cold frying pan then switch on the heat to medium.
Cook the bacon, stirring often, until it is cooked through and starting to only just turn a little crispy.
Take off the heat and set aside.
-
Sift the flour, salt and black pepper into a mixing bowl.
Rub in the butter with your fingertips.
Stir in 120 grams of the grated cheese plus the bacon and a teaspoon of the cooking juices from the frying pan.
Pour in the eggs and enough milk to form a thick but not dry batter: because different flours absorb different amounts of liquid you may not need all the milk or might need a splash more. See blog post for image of how the batter should look.
-
Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin, pressing down lightly and smoothing the top. Sprinkle over the reserved 20 grams of grated cheese.
Put into the preheated oven and bake until risen, brown and firm: a skewer or cocktail stick inserted should come out clean when done. (50-55 min).
Recommended: check at 35 minutes that the top isn't browning too quickly. If it is already quite dark, cover loosely with a piece of foil.
-
When the loaf is done, remove it from the tin and place on a wire rack until completely cold.
Served sliced, spread with butter if liked, alongside soup, salad, with meats and cheeses etc.
The loaf is best eaten with 2 - 3 days, but is fluffiest inside on the day of baking. After the first day, heating slices for a few seconds in the microwave will make the interior fluffy again. It's also very good toasted and buttered.
Can be frozen as a whole loaf or in slices.
RELATED RECIPES
