Cheese and Mixed Nut Bread

I have been making my own bread 2 to 3 times per week for several years and I am convinced that once you do make your own you will never go back to supermarket bread with its unknown effect of additives and chemicals. This recipe is not time consuming other than waiting for the bread to prove. You can use white flour or wholemeal flour and both result in a fantastic tasty bread with the wholemeal bread being a little denser than the white version. The bread is great on its own or with another slab of cheese. Once you start you won't be able to stop eating this great tasting and textured bread especially with some of the Cheese That Makes You Grin :-) Recipe by founder Simon Spurrell

Ingredients

• Prep 10 minutes cooking time 25 minutes for 400g loaf.
• Ingredients:
• 300g strong of white or wholemeal flour
• 5g easy active yeast
• 5g salt
• 25ml Olive oil
• 25g mixed nuts, I used Brazils, Almonds, Walnuts & Hazelnuts
• 75g Grated Cheshire Cheese
• 200ml hand warm water

Method

1. Crack the nuts remove the shells and place the nuts into a mortice and pesle and break them up into a medium texture. Its up to you which nuts you use but waxy textures work better in the bread. 

2. If you are using a mixer and dough hook use the mixing bowl to weigh out the flour, add the salt and yeast on seperate sides of the bowl, then add the nuts, olive oil which will act as a preservative and then at the end the water. 

3. If using a mixer 5 minutes with the dough hook on a low speed will be sufficient. Lift out the dough and on a lightly oiled surface kneed it for a further 2 or 3 minutes until smooth and form into a ball. 

4. Place into a oiled bowl cover with clingfilm and place into a warm place to proved for one hour or until it has doubled in size. 

5. Take the proved bread out of the bowl and on a lightly oiled surface knock back the bread by kneeding all the air out of the bread for 1 or 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a cylinder and place into an oiled bread tin or onto an oiled tray if you want to make a bloomer. Cover with oiled clingfilm and place in a warm place the second proving for 45 minutes.  

6. For the bloomer version slash the surface with 3 cuts to control the growth of the bread rising and spray it with water to make a crispy crust. Place the bread into a pre-heated oven 220c fan oven for 25 minutes. Turn out the bread onto a wire rack and allow to cool for an hour before cutting. Tip: Put a cean damp towel over the loaf if you want to keep the crust soft.