Cranberry & chilli brioche wreath

Any recipe where there is bread and cheese involved, I am there! Every time my tummy rumbles, I hear it say, ‘Bread and cheese, please’. I don’t ask for much, so usually it’s just a thick slice of brown bread smothered in butter, covered by a slab of cheese. But occasionally I like to fancy things up and, my goodness, is this recipe worth the time! A beautiful wreath of chilli-laced brioche balls surround a baked Camembert that’s topped with a dollop of marmalade. Expect a flavour explosion of sweet and savoury, all soft and oozy and impossible not to love.

SERVES 8 PREP 40min, plus overnight proving COOK 20min

• 4 large eggs

• 20ml whole milk

• 350g strong bread flour, plus extra for dusting

• 7g fast-action yeast

• 30g caster sugar

• 5g salt

• 2tsp chilli flakes

• 200g dried cranberries, chopped

• 200g unsalted butter, softened and cubed

• 1 x 250g Camembert with a wooden casing

TO FINISH

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• A good pinch of sea salt

• 2tbsp fine-shred marmalade

1 Whisk the eggs and milk together. 2 Add the flour, yeast, sugar and salt to another bowl and mix well. Add the chilli flakes and the cranberries and mix through. Make a well in the centre, add the milk mixture and bring the dough roughly together. The mixture will look quite wet and more like a very thick cake batter, but don’t worry. Using a free-standing mixer with a dough hook attached, slowly add the butter a little at a time until you have used it all up, then knead the dough on a fast setting for 10min. Cover, pop into the fridge and leave it to prove overnight.

3 Next day, line a large baking tray with some baking paper. Take the bottom half of the wooden casing the cheese comes in and put it in the centre of the baking tray. Put the cheese back in the fridge.

4 Tip the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knock the air out. Roll it out into a sausage shape and divide into 5 equal pieces. Divide each one into 5, so you have 25 little dough balls. Pinch each ball into the centre, turn seam-side down and roll around in your hand to create a smooth ball. Arrange the first 10 around the wooden cheese case and then the following 15 around them, leaving small gaps to allow them to prove. Cover with some greased clingfilm and leave until doubled in size.

5 Heat the oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. Unwrap the cheese and pop into the wooden casing. Brush the dough balls with the beaten egg and sprinkle generously with salt. Bake for 20min.

6 Add spoonfuls of marmalade to the hot cheese and it’s ready to eat.