This is a very selfish post. I made this bread yesterday and, despite the fact that it’s not dinner, or a meal, or anything you’re likely to make after work, I am still blogging about it because I want the recipe at my fingertips next week, when I shall be in the snowy wilds of Michigan. And what more could you want, when it’s freezing outside and everyone else is talking about turkey and pumpkin pie, but a French savoury ‘cake’ recipe.

The word ‘cake’ in French is really used to mean ‘loaf’, and often a savoury one, since what us Anglo-Saxons would consider cake (sweet, round, sandwich, iced…you know the sort I mean) is usually called a gâteau. But, just to confuse matters, they also use ‘cake’ to refer to ones made with fruit, usually dried fruit. So the only real defining characteristic of a ‘cake’ is its shape. And, if this is anything to go by, its simplicity. If you can’t get Roquefort, try it with another blue cheese (Stilton should work, and maybe Beenleigh Blue) but make sure it is both salty and creamy not dry. Delicious and drop-dead easy, especially with a glass of white wine, this is going to be reappearing a lot in my house.

Roquefort, walnut and raisin bread

Makes 1 loaf

Cupboard (or things you may already have)
plain flour, 200g
eggs, 3
butter, a little for greasing the tin
finely ground sea salt and black pepper

Shopping list
easy-blend yeast, 2 teaspoons
Roquefort, 150g
double cream, 250ml
walnuts, 100g
raisins, 60g

How to
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C/gas 4.
2. Butter a loaf tin.
3. Sift the flour and yeast into a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and mix together (you can do this with a wooden spoon or in a mixer but don’t over-mix it or it will be tough).
4. Cut the cheese into small pieces then add it to the mixture, with the cream, walnuts, raisins and a little salt and pepper. Mix well together then tip into the tin.
5. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a knife or skewer, inserted into the centre, comes out clean.
6. Leave to cool in the tin.