* It is always better to shred your cheese rather than purchase it already shredded. Pre-shredded cheese contains ingredients (which sometimes include gluten) to prevent caking. I used
Cabot Creamery’s Vermont Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese as I wanted to make sure you could taste the cheese. I also wanted to use an orange cheddar so you could see it in the bread. It was just the right consistency for shredding. I do not recommend using
Cabot Creamery’s Vermont Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese (the sharpest of their cheeses) for this recipe as it is more crumbly and will not shred as well (although it’s quite tasty!).
* You’ll need one stick of butter, divided. I recommend using European-style unsalted butter such as
Kerrygold (Irish) or
Président Butter (French) for both the bread and topping. There’s more fat content in European-style butter so it adds a bit of richness. Of course, regular unsalted butter works fine as well.