Seeded Cheddar Bread

This Seeded Cheddar Bread from Chef Clodagh McKenna is filled with cheese and topped with eight different types of seeds. It’s the perfect served straight from the oven with Kerrygold butter.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.
2. Sift the white flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir in the wholemeal flour, followed by the grated cheese and, with clean hands, mix until combined. Make a well in the centre of the bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt and milk and slowly pour into the well of dried ingredients. Use your free hand to mix the flour into the yoghurt and milk, try and spread your fingers far apart so it resembles a trough. Make sure that there are no dry patches and that the dough is completely wet.
4.  Pat your hands with flour and shape the dough into one round. Place on a floured baking tray. Flour a large knife and cut a vertical cross and then a diagonal cross, which should create eight wedges (like cake slices). Make sure you only cut about two-thirds of the way through the dough.
5. Using a pastry brush, brush the whole loaf with some of the milk and yogurt mixture, this will give a lovely golden colour to the bread once baked. Then sprinkle the seeds on each of the wedges. It should start to look like a flower.  
6. Bake for 25 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180°C/gas mark 4 for a further 25 minutes. To test whether the loaf is cooked, tap with your knuckles; it should sound hollow. Once cooked, leave to cool on a cooling rack.