Sage, Blue Cheese and Garlic Bread

I cannot even begin to describe to you how delicious this bread is. I love bread but I’m not obsessed with it or anything. If I bake a loaf of bread it can sit quite happily undisturbed on the kitchen bench until dinner time. Most of the time. Not this time. I wanted to take a couple of photos while I had the chance and I thought, “ooh, I’ll just have a little nibble while I’m at it”. Then I think I might have passed out a little. Step away from the bread. I had some time to kill so I went and turned on Season 5, Episode One million of Gossip Girl on Netflix (so bored with it but so needing to see my commitment through to the end) and lasted exactly 2 minutes before having to get up and get another piece of a piece. Then because I cut a piece in half, there was no point in leaving the other half so I ate that too and so on and so forth and I don’t know what happened in that episode.

I don’t like blue cheese unless it’s super mild and luckily I found a cheese in my local Coles called “Shadow of Blue” and it was perfect. You don’t need to get a super mild one like me if you love the bitey strength of your average blue cheese but if you have an aversion to it, give it a crack with a mild one – you may just surprise yourself!

Oh, and did I mention how simple this recipe is? No yeast, no rising – the dough is just buttermilk and self-raising flour. The garlic is roasted whole, in the oven and tossed in the food processor with the sage and cheese then it’s spread over the base, rolled up and baked!

Adapted from Donna Hay’s recipe

Sage, Blue Cheese and Garlic Bread

Ingredients

1 garlic bulb, halved horizontally skin on
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 bunch sage leaves
150g soft blue cheese
4 cups self-raising flour
2 cups buttermilk, plus extra for brushing
cracked black pepper for sprinkling

Method

Pre-heat oven to 200C/180C fan-forced/400F. Drizzle the cut side of the garlic with the oil and place cut side down on an oven tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Cook for 15 minutes or until soft and golden. Set aside to cool slightly.

Squeeze the garlic out of the skins and place in a small food processor with the sage and cheese and process until smooth.

Place the flour and buttermilk in a large bowl and mix until combined, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until the dough comes together. Roll out the dough to a 40cm x 30cm rectangle. Spread with the cheese mixture, leaving a 1cm border around the edges, and roll up lengthways.

Slice the dough in half lengthways, and twist over each other, pinching at the ends to seal.

Place on a lightly greased oven tray, brush with extra buttermilk and sprinkle with cracked black pepper. Cook for 30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Best served warm (I re-heated mine in the oven for about 10 minutes prior to serving).

Carolyn started her blog Pinkpostitnote.com just over a year ago as a way to deal with her obsession of trying new recipes from the copious collection of cookbooks that she owns (and continues to buy). She is particularly fond of “man” food, both cooking it and eating it. She will happily elbow people out of the road at the sight, sound and smell of a pulled pork burger. When she’s not lying awake at 5am wondering if she should buy chooks and a cow to deal with the constant need for eggs and butter, she’s dealing with all the paperwork associated with owning a bunch of tip trucks and her favorite time of the day is wine five o-clock.