My friend Noelle chose as our next bake Balkan Cheese bread by Honey & Co in The Baking Book. I must admit that I drooled a little bit at the idea and when Noelle presented her bake, I could almost smell its cheesy goodness, it looked so good. But then I went down with some lurgy and I’ve been out of action for over two weeks! But soon enough I felt better and after getting back into the swimming pool my appetite recovered and I felt a feast was in order to memoralise this lovely bread and also in memory of some of the loveliest lunches we have had in Turkish restaurants in London. They are such a great place to go for lunch with their piled high fresh salads and just baked and warm breads on every table, the pomegranate molasses salad dressings, the humous, the taramasalata, the freshly grilled meats. One always feels as though one has had the most decadent of feasts when one leaves their friendly restaurants. So in the spirit of feasting I got hubby to rummage in the deep freezer for some hogget lamb chops i’d seen recently, whilst I reread the recipe.

The dough having risen through the leeks and cheese just before basting with egg wash and more cheese!

And soon we had this beautiful bread fresh from the oven, it smelt so good.

Whilst I was prepping the lamb and covering them with some Harissa spices in the theme of Middle Eastern, hubby made a lovely humous with a paprika oil. Next he chopped salad whilst I put together a pomegranate molasses salad dressing and our lamb was ready to be cooked in a scorchingly hot oven.

What a feast!

The Balkan Cheese bread was so good. It was soft and cheesy with a lovely note from the leeks and spicing. I think it would go well with all manner of soups and salads, it would be perfection for a pack me up to take on days out and I’m really looking forward to the left overs as I think it will make the most amazing toast. It is definitely going to become part of my repertoire to enliven week day lunches and suppers.