When life is calling for a little more than your usual run-of-the-mill bread, this loaf is the one. Good cheese is key – lots of it – shaved into creamy shards that will melt and ease flavour into the dough during baking. Sun dried tomatoes bring the sweetness, whilst lightly toasted walnuts add a nutty kick.

Light, sweet, crunchy and soft. It’s a full on la fête du pain!

I like to make this in one day so it’s fresh for dinner, starting early to ensure a long enough bulk fermentation with a quick blast in the fridge before baking.

In fact, this is a loaf that deserves to have a meal built around it rather than being a simple dipping bread that you might turn to at the end of the meal to mop up the remnants. I can suggest creamy pastas, slow roasted casseroles, hearty soups and anything with oven baked with chorizo as dependable companions.

INGREDIENTS:

• 300g Organic White Bread Flour

• 100g Heritage Wheat Flour

• 50g Organic spelt and fig flour (or your choice of artisan flour)

• 350g water (warmed to suit room temperature)

•  75g mature starter

• 10g fine sea salt

• Enrichments: Handful of Cornish Cheddar shards, 50g sun dried tomatoes – chopped, 30g walnuts – lightly toasted and chopped

METHOD:

1. Mix the flours and water together and leave to autolyse for 1 hour

2. Add the starter and leave to autolyse for a further 30 minutes

3. Add the salt and leave to rest for 1 hour, covered

4. Perform the first set of stretch and folds, adding in the cheese as you pull and fold the dough over

5. After one hour, perform the second set of stretch and folds, adding in the sun dried tomatoes

6. After one hour, stretch and fold the dough again, adding in the sun dried tomatoes

7. After one hour, perform a final coil fold, then cover and rest for 30 minutes

8. Flour or line your banneton, then flour your work surface and tip the dough out. Work it into a batard or boule, using your dough scraper and a wet hand to shape it. Tip it upside down into the banneton, cover and leave to proof for another hour at room temperature.

9. Once fully proofed, pop it in the fridge for an hour to firm up. Put your bread dish or baking stone into the oven at 230C and heat for a minimum of 30 minutes.

10. Dust some semolina onto the base of the bread (this will be topside up in the banneton) then place some baking parchment over the top of the banneton and quickly flip it over. Score it,  swiftly and confidently with a sharp bread lame, then transfer it into the hot baking vessel. Put the lid on and transfer to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes on 230, then remove the lid and bake for a further 15 minutes on 215.