Cottage Cheese Bread
Updated October 23, 2025
- Ready In
- About 2 ½ hrs
- (1 hr baking; 1½ hrs rising and cooling)
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
1 ½ teaspoons/5 grams active dry yeast
⅓ cup/75 grams lukewarm water
1 cup/250 grams egg whites (from 7 to 8 large egg whites)
1 cup/255 grams cottage cheese
4 ⅔ cups/582 grams bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) or 1 ½ teaspoons fine salt
Oil (preferably avocado or sunflower oil), as needed
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)
43 grams carbs; 4 milligrams cholesterol; 264 calories; 1 gram monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 4 grams fat; 2 grams fiber; 275 milligrams sodium; 13 grams protein; 1 gram sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a large mixing bowl, combine the active dry yeast and lukewarm water and set aside to hydrate.
- Step 2
In a blender or food processor, combine the egg whites and cottage cheese and blend until smooth. Add the blended mixture to the yeast mixture and whisk to combine.
- Step 3
Whisk the flour with a dry whisk in its container to remove any lumps and aerate the flour. Measure it and add it, along with the salt, to the wet ingredients. Stir to combine into a shaggy, sticky dough.
- Step 4
Dust a work surface with flour and dump the dough on it. Dust your hands with flour to prevent them from sticking to the dough (or oil your hands with a little bit of oil). Knead the dough, using a bench scraper to help lift the sticky dough from your work surface as needed, for 5 to 6 minutes, or until it starts looking smooth. You can also knead the dough until smooth using a stand mixer or bread machine.
- Step 5
Shape the dough into a ball and place it back in the mixing bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until almost doubled in size.
- Step 6
Line a 9-by-5-inch or similar size loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Step 7
After the dough has doubled in size, punch it down to deflate it. Roll it into a log, then pinch the dough along the seam together. Place in the prepared pan, seam side down.
- Step 8
Let the dough sit in the loaf pan for 20 to 25 minutes, or until visibly risen and puffed up.
- Step 9
In the meantime, heat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Step 10
After the dough’s second rise, make a slit along the middle using a sharp knife or razor blade.
- Step 11
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until it sounds hollow after a gentle tap on the crust. The top of the bread will brown pretty quickly. To prevent it from burning, cover loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil as soon as it turns crusty and brown.
- Step 12
Cool completely, then slice and serve. (Slices can be stored in the freezer in a ziptop bag, then toasted before serving.)
Private Notes
Comments
@jc So I just went ahead and tried it because I didn’t have enough eggs at home and didn’t want to go to the store. I used 4 whole eggs and added some water to make 1 cup of liquid. Turned out absolutely perfect!
I’m wondering what would happen if one used whole eggs, besides a color change. I have other enriched bread recipes that use whole eggs, so I’m curious here…
@Rebecca The answer to this question, as to so many questions in life, is crème brûlée.
Does the recipe call for whole milk cottage cheese? I'd imagine skim vs full fat would yield differing results considering there's zero oil/butter explicitly added in?
Several commenters have noted a dense, chewy loaf. I think the tablespoon of kosher salt is too much. I tasted the dough and it was flat out salty. It took forever to rise - I put it in the fridge overnight and it rose enough to punch down. Now I am on my second rise and again it is very slow. Cottage cheese has lots of salt in it - so I'm wondering if reducing the salt might yield better results. We'll see how this loaf turns out. also, fo a wet dough - add flour until it feels right.
I think this recipe is salt heavy - cottage cheese has lots of salt, and the recipe asks for a TBSP of Kosher salt and the dough is flat out mega-salt to taste - and that that inhibits the rise. It took forever for the first rise - now I am on the second rise in the loaf pan and again, super slow mo. Also, for those that had a sticky dough - don't hesitate to add more flour until you have something you can work with. I'll post about how this turns out later.