Ingredients
| 165ml water, lukewarm | |
| 250g high-grade/bread flour | |
| 70g levain (active, fed the day before, straight from fridge, or see Note) | |
| 5g salt | |
| 1 pinch dry active yeast (to support the starter) | |
| 50g blue cheese, crumbled | |
| 40g roasted walnuts, roughly chopped | |
| honey, to glaze |
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Instructions
| 1. | Mix the water, flour and starter for 3 minutes using the hook attachment on a stand mixer. |
| 2. | Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest for about 1 hour. |
| 3. | Add the salt and yeast and mix for 6 minutes. |
| 4. | Take a piece of the dough and stretch it between your fingers – you should be able to see through it without ripping. |
| 5. | If the dough is too fragile, mix for another 3 minutes which will develop the gluten more. |
| 6. | Put the dough into an oiled bowl and rest it for 25 minutes. |
| 7. | Add the blue cheese and walnuts and fold them carefully into the dough. Leave to rest for another 25 minutes. |
| 8. | Fold again and rest the dough for 60 minutes. |
| 9. | Put the dough onto a floured surface and shape into a round ball by pulling the sides of the dough to the top, creating surface tension. |
| 10. | Flip it over so the smooth side is now facing up and put onto a piece of baking paper. |
| 11. | Cover with a tea towel and leave to rest for 60 minutes. |
| 12. | Heat the oven to 230°C for 30 minutes, putting a Dutch oven inside to heat for the last 10 minutes. |
| 13. | Lift the paper with the bread into the Dutch oven (if you have a spray bottle, spray the surface of the loaf with water to help make a good crust). Put the lid on and put into the oven. |
| 14. | Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the lid, reduce the temperature to 200°C and bake for another 5 minutes until golden. |
| 15. | While still hot, brush the honey over the loaf to glaze. Enjoy with butter or more blue cheese. |
Recipes Annie Niemann & Lisa Sutherland / Photography Aaron McLean / Styling Fiona Smith & Aaron McLean