Cheese and Paprika Loaf

The complete lack of blogging lately would be to do with the fact that I’ve been having a massive faff about my life, and the fact that I should probably do something with it now that I’ve finished my degree. So in true ostrich-head-in-the-sand style I am instead staying and working in Portsmouth for another month, to put off the big scary graduate world. However, since all of my friends have left and I’m living in a house with no internet connection (and I managed to idiotically use my whole month’s data allowance on my phone in about 5 minutes, don’t ask), I don’t really know what to do with myself. Well, apart from baking, painting my nails a different colour every day and reading a lot.

Thank God I have work to go to most days or I would just turn into an obese Amish housewife or something. Anyway, I had some cheese to use up and I wanted something tasty to make my lunches with and this is what I came up with. It goes reeeeeeeally well with any form of pork, and a dash of HP sauce.

Ingredients

250g wholemeal bread flour

250g strong white bread flour

7g sachet instant yeast

2tsps paprika

Around 400ml water

Lots of cheese

Measure the flours into a large mixing bowl with the yeast and paprika. It’s got to be a bit of a trial and error with flavourings in bread so basically put as much paprika in as you like, but 2tsps is a good basis.

Add 350ml of water to begin with and use your hands to bring the dough together, adding small splashes of water as necessary until it forms a rough dough. There are all sorts of debates about whether the water should be tepid, warm, cold, whatever but I usually go on my mood and if the kettle has been boiled recently or not. At the end of the day it all makes bread, so go with what your gut tells you to.

Drizzle a small splash of olive oil onto your work surface and knead the dough for a good 10 minutes, really working it to evenly distribute the paprika.

Lightly rub oil onto the inside of your mixing bowl and pop the dough into it. Cover with a plastic bag and leave in a warm spot for an hour, or until doubled in size.

Grate about 200g of cheddar cheese, or crumble it if you’re a tit like me and didn’t bring a grater to your new house.

Punch the dough to expel the air.

Stretch the dough into a rectangle and plop the cheese all over. Gently knead a couple of times to distribute the cheese throughout the dough. Roll it into a rough cob shape and place onto a baking tray lined with parchment. Cover the whole thing with an inflated plastic bag and leave for another hour to rise some more.

Preheat the oven to 200⁰C. Grate, or crumble, some more cheese and when the loaf is ready to be baked sprinkle it all over the top with some more paprika to make a tasty crust.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on top and hollow sounding when tapped underneath.

This is delicious eaten whilst still warm from the oven, when the cheese is still a bit gooey, but it’s just as nice the next day with a cold slice of ham.