Bread and Grilling Cheeses (2024)

FAQs

What bread should you use for grilled cheese? ›

For the ideal grilled cheese, look for bread with a soft-but-hearty texture with even slices of medium thickness (about 1/4 inch). Hearty sandwich bread, sourdough, brioche, and rye all work very well. Avoid rolls and loaves with large holes in the interior.

For the best results, toast your bread first. A quick toast will help your bread develop the golden edges and luscious crisp that you're after. It'll also help prevent the bread from getting soggy, no matter how many fillings you add.

I haven't been this caught off guard by a food name since I found out walnuts don't grow on walls. But that's right, bread cheese doesn't really have any bread. It just gets a nice crust as it bakes, so it somewhat resembles toast. It's like a grilled cheese sandwich made entirely out of cheese.

Because that's what happens if you put a piping hot grilled cheese directly on a plate. Condensation builds up beneath the sandwich, undoing all your careful crisping and giving you a sandwich that might still be crisp on one side but is limp and unpleasantly moist on the other.

Grilled Cheese

Slices of American-style cheese melted on an inside-out sesame seed bun with toppings of your choice and grilled until golden brown.

Sliced American cheese grilled on thick-sliced Classic White Miche.

Standard procedure for grilled cheese is to butter the outsides of the bread before placing it in the pan — for more flavor, butter both sides, inside and out. This works quite nicely, adding flavor to the sandwich, while also preventing burning and sticking.

2. Cheese options – For the best grilled cheese, you want to use a combination of mozzarella (for its cheese pull and non-greasy melting qualities) with a flavoured cheese – because mozzarella actually has a very mild flavour. Cheese slices work fine but honestly, you get a better melt using shredded.

In case you haven't heard, halloumi is a Middle Eastern cheese that can be fried or grilled without melting. I'm going to repeat that so you understand why spending a week writing about halloumi makes you very, very hungry: This is a cheese that you can fry or grill until it's brown.

Do you cook grilled cheese on high or low? ›

A skillet preheated to medium or medium-low is optimal (adjust yours accordingly). Start by placing one slice of buttered bread face down in the pan, top with shredded cheese. Add the second slice buttered side up. Cook 2-4 minutes per side until bread is golden brown and cheese is melted.

It doesn't really matter, but both [pieces of bread need to be buttered or have some sort of fat to be grilled. The real secret to NOT burning—keep the temperature low! No more than medium. Let the pan heat, and then swirl in a tablespoon of butter.

Bread slices that are on the thin side works the best for grilled cheese. I usually find that ¼-inch thick slices give good, crisp results. Thickly sliced, chewy-textured bread competes with the melty cheese, which is the star of this show.

This recipe calls for plain white sandwich bread. You could also use sourdough, brioche, or even ciabatta. You can really make grilled cheese with any type of bread you like, but you should make sure the loaf is sturdy enough to handle the heat.

Sourdough offers a sturdy, crusty, slightly tangy platform that you can load with abandon without worrying about it falling apart. On the other hand, the French brioche offers a buttery, slightly sweet crumb that's decadent enough to make eating that grilled cheese feel like a special occasion.

While most any size or type of bread is suitable for toasting, Baird recommends starting with something hearty. “I like a sturdy, thick-cut sourdough,” she says.