This is a bread loaf that, true to its name, is quick to make because there’s no yeast, no kneading, no rising. It’s a Cheese, Herb and Garlic Quick Bread with swirls of herbs and ribbons of melted cheese. Excellent for afternoon tea or dipping into soups!
A terrific no yeast bread recipe
This is one of those recipes that isn’t actually a bread in the traditional sense, it’s a muffin batter baked in a loaf pan. So it doesn’t have that chew you get with proper yeast bread, but it’s irresistible in its own right, with a soft fluffy crumb loaded with garlicky, herby goodness and cheesy ribbons running through every slice.
But the best part is possibly that you’re already eating it while all those yeast-bread-making-people are still waiting for their dough to rise! 😈
I first shared this in 2015, but over time I tweaked it – mainly because the original recipe called for buttermilk which is not a fridge staple for me, and also to make the crumb softer and last longer. I’ve been enjoying this better version for a while… time to fess up and share!
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this:
Flavourings – cheese, herb and garlic
The cheese is cut into strips to bury in the batter, while the herbs, garlic and oil are used to make a “pesto” like mixture that is dolloped and swirled throughout. (PS Yes, you can totally use homemade or store-bought pesto!)
Cheese – I like to use cheddar, colby or tasty cheese (a type of cheddar popular here in Australia). However, you can use any melting cheese you want though I don’t recommend using mozzarella (flavour and salt too mild) or hard cheeses like parmesan, pecorino (too salty).
Fresh herbs – I love the combination of rosemary for earthy, herby flavour (and also because I have abundant supplies from the garden) and parsley for fresh green flavour. Rosemary is quite strong and for this loaf, I feel like using more than 2 tablespoons is too much.
Feel free to experiment with combinations you like! I originally used equal amounts of dill, thyme, rosemary and parsley, because I had remnants of these at the time.
Dried herbs – The ever reliable, always-on-hand combination of thyme and oregano! I used to just use fresh herbs but grew to prefer using both fresh and dried herbs in this particular loaf, for a mix of fresh and earthy herb flavour.
Garlic – Fresh, crushed with a garlic crusher or grated, so the flavour infuses better into the oil than finely chopping with a knife.
Olive oil – To bring the herb and garlic mixture together.
Salt – Brings out the flavours of the herbs.
Batter
The ingredients of this no yeast bread are similar to a muffin, but I altered the recipe to make it less crumbly, making it suitable to slice and even to toast. Here’s what you need.
Yogurt – A bakers’ trick to make crumbs moist and stay fresher for longer (this stays fresh in the pantry for 5 days!). Use any plain, unsweetened yogurt – regular or Greek – preferably full fat. Low fat does work but the crumb is a bit less plush.
Milk – Regular cow milk, full fat recommended though low fat can be used. (The yogurt plus milk essentially replaces the buttermilk that was in the original recipe).
Flour – plain / all purpose flour.
Baking soda / bi-carbonate – The leavening agent that makes this loaf rise. It’s stronger than baking power and makes this loaf rise better with a softer crumb. However, if you’re out, you can substitute with 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder.
Eggs – Make sure you use large eggs which are 50-55g / 2oz each in the shell, sold in cartons labelled “large eggs”. If you only have jumbo or XL eggs, see this post for how to measure out the correct amount.
Butter and oil – The fat in this loaf. I use a combination because butter adds better flavour than oil, but oil makes the crumb of the loaf more moist, and keeps it fresher for longer.
Garlic – With garlic in both the herb garlic mix AND in the batter, there’s unmissable garlic flavour here!
Salt – Brings out the flavour in everything.
How to make Cheese and Garlic Quick Bread
I like to wedge chunks of cheese in the batter and swirl through herb and garlic oil so you get lovely pockets of cheese and streaks of herby colour, and the lovely textured crust on top. But you could just mix the herb mixture and shredded cheese through the batter – even faster to prepare!!
Herb garlic mixture – Just put everything into a bowl and mix together. It should be dollop-able, so if it’s a little on the dry side just add a smidge more oil.
💡TIP: Instead of finely chopping the herbs with a knife, you can blitz it up with a stick blender. It makes it a bit finer and pesto-like so it is not quite as green once baked, but it works perfectly and is faster to make! Directions in recipe card notes.
Dry ingredients – Whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Wet ingredients – Whisk the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
Combine wet and dry – Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour the wet ingredients in and mix just until you can no longer see any flour. The batter will look a little lumpy and that’s totally fine. Don’t keep mixing to try to make it smooth – the lumps bake out and overmixing makes your loaf crumb less soft.
Cheese, herb and garlic – I like to do the herb and garlic swirls and cheese ribbons in 3 layers, using a 21 x 11 x 7 cm pan (8.3 x 4.5 x 2.75″) which makes a nice tall loaf.
Spread 1/3 of the batter in the loaf tin. Dollop 1/3 of the herb garlic mixture over and randomly push in and drag the knife through – there are no rules or art about this. You could just spread the mixture across the surface. Then wedge the cheese slices in, upright, like pictured above, sticking out is fine.
Then repeat this twice more. It’s fine for the cheese to be sticking out the top – makes the surface golden and cheese crusted!
Bake 30 minutes uncovered at 180°C/350°F (both fan-forced and standard ovens).
If you’re wondering why the temperature is the same for both types of ovens, because you’re used to seeing the fan oven temp 20°C lower – good question! Please see FAQ – too lengthy to explain there. 🙂
Bake covered 20 minutes – Remove from the oven and loosely cover with foil. Then bake for a further 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Cool 5 minutes in the loaf tin then at least 10 minutes on a rack before slicing (it’s very fragile when hot, straight out of the oven).
Butter isn’t needed.
But it’s always welcome.
Serve this for afternoon tea, take it to picnics, as a side for meals. It’s also fantastic for dipping into soups and slow cooked stews!
– Nagi x
PS It’s terrific eaten at room temperature but if you can get to it within the first couple of hours after taking it out of the oven and you do the pretend-optional-butter-slather, it may well be the best thing you eat all week.
FAQ
The original recipe published in 2015 included buttermilk. Over the years, as I’ve made this recipe for myself, I found myself tweaking it out of necessity because buttermilk is not a fridge staple for me.
Instead, I used a combination of yogurt and milk which are both fridge staples. Eventually, these became standard inclusions in loaf recipes like this, both sweet and savoury. Not just because of convenience because I always have the ingredients, but also because it makes a better loaf. The crumb comes out more soft and not only that, the loaf stays fresher for longer – 4 to 5 days, compared to 2 to 3 days with the buttermilk version.
I’m afraid I haven’t tried this with gluten-free flour. Sorry!
4 days in the pantry, then for day 5 and beyond, just lightly toast it to freshen it up.
Truthfully though, if I’m not enjoying this warm, freshly made, I pretty much always toast it!
The original recipe I published in 2015 was a recipe I already had that I had been making for myself over the years. Mind you, back then, I was only 1 year into this website so I still had plenty of recipes in my stash to dig into. These days, most recipes are brand new creations. 🙂
So, the original recipe didn’t require development. This new and improved version is one that evolved over the years as I was making this recipe for myself and I was tweaking it. Once I realise it had been a few years that I’d been keeping the improved version for myself, I realised it was time to share! 🙂
As this one was an existing recipe of mine, JB wasn’t involved in the development process. However, as with every recipe we publish, he made it independently to double check the recipe. Happy to report he enjoyed it!
Usually, the temperature for fan-forced ovens is 20°C lower than standard ovens. So, most of my recipes say to pre-heat ovens to 180°C for regular ovens or 160°C for fan-forced ovens. This is because the effect of the fan is that the heat in the oven is stronger and bakes things faster.
The best way to explain this is if you are wet on a cold day, you feel colder when the wind blows. Fans in ovens work the same – it makes things cook faster.
With this loaf though, perhaps because of the height and most of the cooking of the inside of the loaf is done when it is covered in foil, I found that it takes way longer at 160°C fan-forced than a 180°C standard oven. But when I increased the fan oven up to 180°C, it baked at the same time. This happens with some recipes, from time to time. 🙂 An anomaly, but it’s not unheard of!
Instead of chopping the fresh herbs with a knife, you can just blitz everything up with a stick blender. The herbs are chopped finer so the swirls/dollops are not quite as green once baked, but it works perfectly and is certainly faster!
To do this, put everything in a jug that is just big enough to fit the head of a stick blender. You’ll need 1/2 cup lightly packed parsley and 1/4 cup rosemary leaves. Don’t put garlic in whole, takes more effort to blitz than herbs so you’ll end up over blitzing the herbs into a green smoothie, so put it in grated or crushed with garlic press.
Then blitz until the herbs are finely chopped, but stop before you turn it into a green smoothie. You might need an extra tablespoon of oil to loosen the mixture up.
Watch how to make it
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Cheese, Garlic and Herb Quick Bread (no yeast)
Ingredients
- 7 oz / 200g block of cheese (cheddar or tasty), cut into 3mm / 0.1" thick slices, different widths for random ribbons throughout! (Note 1)
Herb and garlic swirl
- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary , finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley leaves , finely chopped
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 garlic cloves , crushed using garlic press or finely grated
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (halve for fine table salt)
Dry Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 1 tsp baking soda (bi-carbonate soda), sub 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt (halve for table salt)
Wet Ingredients
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt , Greek or regular (full fat, unsweetened)
- 3/4 cup milk , full fat best, low fat ok
- 2 large eggs (~50-55g/2oz each)
- 3 1/2 tbsp (50g) unsalted butter , melted
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 small garlic cloves , crushed with garlic crusher or grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (both fan and standard ovens).
- Loaf tin – Grease a 21 x 11 x 7 cm loaf pan (8.3 x 4.5 x 2.75") lightly with butter or oil spray then line with baking paper (parchment paper). (Note 3)
- Herb and garlic swirl – Mix the ingredients in a small bowl, it should be a thick dollop-able mixture.
- Dry ingredients – Whisk the Dry Ingredients in a bowl.
- Wet ingredients – Whisk the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Combine – Make a well in the centre of the Dry Ingredients. Pour the Wet Ingredients in and mix until just combined.
- Swirls and cheese Layer 1 – Pour 1/3 of the batter into the bread tin. Dollop 1/3 of the herbs across the top then use a knife to "swirl" it into the batter up and down, and also turning the batter over (refer photo below). Use 1/3 of the cheese slices and push them randomly into the batter. Push some all the way in and leave some poking out of the batter.
- Layers 2 and 3 – Repeat twice more. Don't worry about herb mixture exposed and cheese slices sticking out the surface, looks amazing when baked!
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden. Remove from oven and cover with foil, then bake for a further 20 minutes (total baking time 50 minutes). Check to make sure the centre is cooked by inserting a skewer – it should come out clean.
- Cool in the loaf tin for 5 minutes then turn the bread out onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool for at least another 10 minutes before cutting thick slices. Butter is optional but always welcome!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More quick loaf breads like this
Life of Dozer
Very large dog under a wobbly tripod with a very expensive camera. What could go wrong??😅
This was early today, in the shoot room. Filming and photographing a sparkling new recipe for next week! Dozer doesn’t realise yet that it’s vegetarian. 😂
Has anyone made this with sliced green olives and peppers?
What about 2% LF Greek yogurt in place of buttermilk? Is it a 1:1 rato?
Great recipe! Thanks, Nagi.
Hey I made this delicious bread and found it too salty for my liking. Do you have to have salt in the recipe?
Hello! Do you have the metric measurements for this recipe? Thank you!
Hi Vanessa – almost all of my recipes have a toggle button at the top for metric or cups. N x
But this recipe doesn’t have metric measurements, I checked twice! and Australian volume for flour especially is different to American… which is why everyone should use metric always. Take the hassle out of finding “the right measurement”
Hi Nagi, I can’t get metric measurements for this. Please supply. Many thanks.
Fantastic!
I used gluten free flour and made my buttermilk with evaporated milk. So 😋 yummy!
I am so glad you enjoyed it Janet! N x
Made this yesterday and like every Nagi recipe I’ve tried so far, it worked a treat. As I am baking in a toaster oven and it can be a bit unpredictable, I was a little concerned the centre may not be cooked thoroughly, so a put in back in for an extra 10 minutes at a slightly lower 160 and there were no problems. Next time I think I’ll trust the process and not worry about the extra time.
Hi Nagi, I’d just like to thank you for your absolutely brilliant recipes. Yours is without a doubt my most trusted online recipe hub, you write beautifully and provide the additional details other sites leave out. I cook from online recipes several times a week & very rarely go past one of yours when available. At my 50th in 2019 I included one wet dish to compliment the tapas / finger food menu which was your Asian Beef bowls served over rice. Needless to say it was a huge hit with my 110 guests & I’ve shared that recipe repeatedly. I’m about to make the cheese garlic & herb bread & know it will be amazing!! Thanks so much for all of your work & research that makes cooking your food an absolute joy. Cheers Georgia-Lee
Yummo! Will definitely be making this again. Went perfectly with Pumpkin Soup tonight. Warm tummies all around. Might cut down on the herbs next time though. 🙂
Very tasty, but, when I removed it from the oven it went flat! It was still very tasty with Leek and Potato soup. Any idea why it went flat?
Oh no, do you mean it sunk Debbie? N x
i have used full fat natural greek yoghurt instead of buttermilk, worked well and found it to be a bit lighter.
How much yogurt did you use in place of the buttermilk?
I have used full fat natural greek yoghurt instead of buttermilk, it gives it a lighter texture.
! cup is 128 grammes
Lovely bread recipe
Can you make this with marmite/vegimite?
Hi would you be able to do a conversion table. I’m in the UK and love your Recipies but struggle with what a cup amount is in both dry and wet ingredients. Thanks.
Hi Sharon, sorry this is one of my older recipes, I’ll get the metric measurements on there (all my new ones have a toggle where it’s easily converted) N x
Hi Nagi, this recipe sounds delicious! I’m hoping to make this for my family soon, but my sister can’t eat cheese. I’m wondering if I can omit the cheese and use just the garlic and herbs instead? Thanks!
Hi there. Can this recipe be altered to make buns vs a loaf for a quicker bake time?
Made this last night as a side for soup. I was surprised at how thick the batter was but it turned out great and was a big hit. Will definitely make this again and again.
I have this in the oven right now and I’m pretty confident it will turn out even with all my subs and additions because your recipes are generally really adaptable. I’ve used Palestinian zaatar as the herbs and some roasted butternut pumpkin, garlic and feta that I had leftover from last night’s dinner. Hopefully the Mediterranean flavours work together. One thing that could fail me is my panic when I accidentally combined the steps of making the buttermilk sub and combining wet ingredients without letting the milk curdle. Oops! Was trying to be quick while the baby was napping.
Dear Nagi, I baked this bread this afternoon. The taste was very good, however, it was dense in the middle part. What would be the cause of it? I used cold milk + 1 tbsp vinegar, as there was no buttermilk. Or it was because I cut the cheese in cube form?I will surely bake it again after knowing the cause. Many thanks, Nagi.
Hi Rose, sorry you had issues here! Was it dense like undercooked? N x
Really yummy! Used 3/4 cup WW flour (had just run out of AP and couldn’t be bothered to open a new bag), and used a finely chopped sautéed onion with a sprinkling of chipotle chilli powder instead of the garlic. Used sharp Scottish Cheddar cheese and a mixture of thyme, sage, oregano and chives from the garden.
Everyone enjoyed it!
Hi Nagi, my kids and I have tried your artisan bread and loved it. Just wondering for this herb bread can I use extra virgin olive oil?