I love this bread! I know 24 hours seems like a long time to let it rise, but trust me it’s so worth it! The crumb is so soft & light. The outside is so crunch & chewy. Its just soooo full of cheese, & the hints of Jalapenos is so delightful.

& they honey butter! Trust me, you don’t want skip making the butter. Its so creamy, sweet & salty & it just goes so well with this bread.

Makes: 1 loaf, 1 cup butter

Ingredients:

538g all purpose flour

1/2 ts salt

1/2 ts dry yeast

1/2 ts sugar

1 & 3/4 warm water, divided (plus more if necessary)

3 cups grated cheddar cheese

2 large fresh Jalapenos, finely chopped, seeds removed if desired

For the honey butter:

600ml thickened cream

1/4 cup good quality runny honey

Flakey sea salt, to taste (my favourite is Maldon)

Method:

Add 1/4 cup of warm water to a small bowl.

mix in the sugar & yeast. Set aside.

To a large bowl, add the flour & salt. Whisk to combine.

Once the yeast mixture is frothy & smells “yeasty” add it to the dry mixture, along with the remaining water.

Mix well until a dough forms. If the mixture is too dry, add a tablespoon of warm water, until you reach a dough. The dough shouldn’t be sticky.

Add in the cheese & Jalapenos, mixing until evenly distributed.

Cover with cling wrap & refrigerate for 24 hours.

Preheat your oven to 240C. Once heated, add a 5-6 litre Dutch oven, with the lid to the oven. Leave for 30 minutes (you want this super hot).

meanwhile, remove bread from fridge, gently punch down to remove any excess air bubbles & turn the dough out onto a floured work surface.

Moving from bottom to top, tuck the dough into itself, turning the dough as you go. This makes a ball.

Flip the ball over, seem side down.

Drag the ball gently in a circle to seal the bottom. You may need to repeat this a couple of times.

Sprinkle a little flour over the dough.

Score the dough.

Transfer to a sheet of baking paper.

Remove the Dutch oven from the oven (careful, it will be very hot!) & place dough & baking paper in the Dutch oven. Let the baking paper hang over the sides if it is able to (this will make it easier to remove later).

Pop the lid on & bake for 30 minutes.

Remove lid & bake for a further 10-15 minutes until golden & brown.

While the bread is baking, let’s make the butter!

Add all of the cream to a stand mixer, with the whisk attachment fitted.

Run the mixer on a high speed until whipped cream forms.

Scrape down the bowl & continue running the mixed on high until buttermilk starts to separate from the butter. Reduce to medium.

As the buttermilk & butter start to separate, you will need to reduce the speed of the mixer accordingly, or add a guard to stop thr milk from spilling all over your kitchen – no one wants to clean that up!

Once all the buttermilk has separated from the butter, strain buttermilk into a bowl (save for later to make buttermilk pancakes, muffins, or so many other things!)

Wash any remaining buttermilk off the butter & place in a medium sized bowl.

Add honey & salt & mix until well combined.

Shape butter, cover & set aside.

To serve, slice bread, top with a generous amount of honey butter & optionally some more flakey salt.

Enjoy!