by Last year I went to a little diner in New Jersey called Mastoris. They had this amazing cheese bread that I loved. I wanted to recreate it, but unlike a standard cheese danish this had a bread-like texture. It was more bread than danish. So after a little searching online, I think I found the perfect recipe.
Serve for breakfast or any time that you want a sweet treat.
Cheese bread – (from The Marlin Menu)
- Dough
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1/4 cup lukewarm water
- 1/2 cup lukewarm milk
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- Cheese Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Making the Dough
Combine sugar, milk water and yeast and let rest until it becomes bubbly.
Once bubbly add the balance of the ingredients and mix and knead them together until you’ve made a soft, smooth dough. Place dough in a greased bowl, turn over, and cover with a moist towel. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until it’s puffy (though not necessarily doubled in bulk).
Making the Filling
While the dough is rising, prepare the filling by mixing all of the ingredients together until smooth. Chill untill ready to use.
Assembling the Bread
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured board, punch down and let it rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough out into a 16 x 12-inch rectangle. Transfer rolled dough to baking pan spread with parchment paper. Spread the filling lengthwise down the center third of the rectangle.
Cut 1 to 3-inch-wide strips from each side of the filling out to the edges of the dough.
Fold about an inch of dough at each end over the filling to contain it, then fold the strips, at an angle, across the filling, alternating from side to side.
Bake and Serve
Allow the braids to rise, covered, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, till almost doubled in size. Brush with a glaze made from 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water, then bake the braids in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven, and cool on a wire rack.
Looks yummy..gonna try this recipe
you sould list all the nutrition facts lol it ,looks good]
My mom and her bf used to drive to NJ from MD on the weekends to get this bread from this bakery, this was at least 23 years ago. I'm not joking when I say that I have been thinking about this bread almost every week of my past 23 years. It was that good. They would get upset because it would keep sneaking pieces until it was gone…same day. I'm very excited to try this recipe and I don't know why I didn't Google it sooner…duh!
I live in NJ and loved this bread. Mastoris, unfortunately has closed.
I searched the Internet back in early 2000 and found a recipe from Fleischman’s yeast. I tried the recipe on a rainy weekend and it was awesome. I made it every Christmas for 10 years to give as gifts.
The dough recipe calls for sour cream and I use half bread flour and half unbleached flour. I spread the filling right to the edge in which every bite has the filling. I don’t cut strips – I roll it up instead and tuck in the ends underneath. I do cut slits on the top.
A glaze is poured over the top after the bread has cooled.
The recipe makes 4 loaves or 8 if loaves areade smaller.
I made this bread earlier this week and took it into work everyone loved it. But the biggest compliment for me came from a young man that sits next to me from France and he told me it tasted just like the bread back home. I was elated! So I'm making it again to take to my Mom's for Mother's Day tomorrow! Great recipe and wonderful pictures. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it Wendy! Hope it turned out great for Mother's Day.
I used to live right down the road from Mastoris, my favorite thing was the cheese bread. I now live in California and always tell my friends about the amazing cheese bread I used to get. I am so happy to find this recipe, I will be making it today. Thank you.
Ok this bread was good but was still not quite Mastoris so I played around with the recipe and got it down to perfection. First one small modification in the dough and that is substitute almond extract instead of vanilla, otherwise the rest is the same. Now the cheese filling follow recipe but again substitute almond extract for vanilla and also add 3 tbsp of regular sugar and 1/4 cup ricotta cheese. Also spread filling on dough except leave 1 inch on long end and roll dough jelly roll style, this is now the closest you can get to Mastoris bread unless you go there
Thanks so much for the feedback. I am going to try this out as soon as I can. Thanks again.
Rex
Also almost forgot after dough has risen score the top diagonally in three or four places ( like French bread) and bake at 325 for 35 to 40 minutes
Rex and Elsie,
THANK YOU! I also fell in love with the cheese bread at Mastoris diner. I could never find anything like it again, and I live many states away.
I tried making this recipe a few years ago to utter failure–dense, hard, not very “doughy.” My first time baking with yeast! Well, I tried it again last night, and it’s just AMAZING!!
I used most of Elsie’s adaptations, except no almond extract in the dough. 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 tsp. almond in the cheese filling, and the ricotta. Only added 1 more tbl. granulated sugar bc. we don’t like things too sweet.
I made sure this time to knead for a very long time–probably 10-15 minutes. I also made sure to allow for both the initial rise and the rise after rolling. Elsie’s right, the rolling of the filled dough is much closer to the Mastoris style.
This bread was fantastic minutes out of the oven, and so very gorgeous! It’s phenomenal the next morning.
I couldn’t be happier! I’m still very novice to yeast baking, but I have even more confidence now that I was able to produce this wonderful bread. Thanks!
I used to commute by car from Washington, DC to Montreal, Canada on a weekly basis. Passing through New Jersey allowed me to try this diner (Mastoris) a co-worker of mine suggested. I used to stop there on a regular basis to eat and, of course, buy some cheese bread and cinnamon bread. They were heavenly. I am very, very disappointed to learn that Mastoris is no longer in business, even though I no longer commute and remain in Maryland. I will be trying Rex’s suggested recipe and I certainly hope it is a match. Thanks so much for finding it.
Rex and Elsie,
Let me add another big THANK YOU!
I’m another long-time Mastoris’ cheese bread lover. I first had it there in 1981 and I’ve been picking some up for Easter brunch every year since 1990 or so.
I was saddened last year (2022) when I got there and found an empty parking lot. I had not heard that they closed in early 2022 — another covid casualty!
So I was happy to find this site and made a batch late Holy Saturday night 2022 using Elsie’s modifications, except for the added 3 Tbs sugar.
I knew at least that the her jelly-roll style suggestion was correct.
The dough turned out wonderfully, but the filling wasn’t really right.
I heat before serving at Easter brunch, and when I sliced into it I was hit by the wonderful almond scent.
Wonderful yes, but my 20+ years of olfactory memory knew that Mastoris’ bread didn’t have that aroma.
It was very good (actually better the next day), but not quite right — and also not enough filling compared to what I remembered.
When Mothers’ Day 2022 came I decided to try again. I used the same dough recipe (including almond extract), but went back to using 2 tsp vanilla in the filling.
I thought I’d double the filling, but tried two variations. Both used vanilla, but one used 1/2 cup granulated sugar rather than powdered.
I cut the dough in half, making two 8-inch loaves rather that one 16-inch one.
Turns out that’s a lot of filling!! While spreading it I decided not to use it all, and later found that I’d used 75% of it — so 1.5 times the original amount.
Yeah half an egg is a pain, but you can reserve the other half (2 Tbs after beating) to use for the egg wash.
I got rave reviews for this one! I did decide though that I preferred the filling using granulated sugar (only slight difference though), so that’s what I’ll use in the future.
I just made two loaves for Easter this year (2023) with a triple batch of filling split between them. It again worked out very well.
I actually made the loaves a few hours apart and chilled the filling in between. If you do that then take the filling out while the dough is rising.
Otherwise if it’s too cold it will naturally delay the final rise.
I had some filling spillage rolling that second loaf (some while rolling and some during the final rise). I’m not sure if it was due to cold filling or my clumsiness.
However, I left that spilled filling on the sheet to bake. It did not burn and tasted great on its own!
In the future I’ll probably divide it and make the smaller 8-inch long loaves. It’s easier to roll that way and it fits better on my cookie sheet.
I grew up in Bordentown, and Mastoris and its wonderful cheese bread was the foundation of my childhood.
I was so sad when it closed. Even though I had moved away, I still occasionally stopped in and bought a loaf of my favorite bread.
Thank you for posting this and thank you to everyone who modified, suggested and perfected. I made this last weekend, and I’m not kidding–tears came to my eyes when I bit into the first slice. It tasted exactly like I remembered.
I added the ricotta, omitted the almond extract and just used vanilla, and split mine into two loaves–although I agree that next time I may make four total. I also used the jelly-roll method.