I've seen lots "recipes" online to create them at home, many posted on Pinterest (one of my favorite places to find new recipes). They all look authentic enough, but a little research on the Red Lobster site confirms most are copycats.
Then I ran across this recipe on The Yooper Pasty Facebook Page that takes a copycat version of the biscuit mixture and turns it into a loaf! I got inspired and decided to give it a try.
Dry ingredients
3 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
4 ounces cheddar cheese, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
Wet ingredients
1 1/4 cups milk
3/4 cup sour cream
3 Tablespoons of butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan with oil. In a bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients. Carefully stir in cheese cubes until covered in flour mixture, this will help prevent your cheese sinking to the bottom of your loaf of bread.
In a different bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Fold the wet mixture into the flour and cheese mixture, stir until just combined, do not over stir.
Spread the mixture into the loaf pan.
Bake for 45-50 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes and then remove from pan. Allow to cool for one hour before slicing and serving.
So it came out beautifully! I especially love that you can see yummy little spots of melted cheddar cheese.
So nice looks are great, but the "Put your money where your mouth is" question is always the same -- HOW DOES IT TASTE?
It was good, but not a dead ringer for the Red Lobster biscuit flavor which is more garlickly. I guess that's proof positive the real recipe is in fact a secret. Converting the biscuit recipe into a loaf also makes it lose a critical element of the biscuit appeal -- WARMTH. In order to cut properly, the loaf needs to cool so you don't get the joy of that straight out of the oven, melt in your mouth goodness the biscuit delivers.
On the whole, it's definitely worth doing again, although I'll probably just make the biscuits and experiment with the recipe a little. But before my next attempt, I think I need a trip to Red Lobster to make some flavor notes on the real thing!
