Dan Lepard's Cheesy Torpedoes

Following on from last night's barbecue, I managed to convince the husband that we should go out for a picnic today as well.  To do both things in the space of a weekend is bordering on radical.  I don't remember us eating outside more than once the entire time we lived in London.  And when we moved to Wiltshire, no word of a lie, it took me two years to persuade him to go out for a pub lunch.  He's that unadventurous.

So having agreed that we could go on a picnic, I decided make an effort to not rock the boat by providing food that he likes.  Cheese and ham rolls, pork pies, cocktail sausages, hula hoops, cake and strawberries.  All store bought and full of additives and preservatives.  But if it makes him happy and means that we can picnic outside in the beautiful weather, I'm not going to make too much fuss.

Guess who's got a new camera app?

But of course, with a blog to write, I had to cook something new, didn't I?  Whilst researching what to do with my sourdough starter, I came across this Dan Lepard recipe on the Guardian Website (I don't believe it's in Short and Sweet).  What's not to like about a roll packed with cheese and then stuffed with ham salad?  A lot if you're my husband.

The actual making of these is the easiest Dan Lepard bread recipe I've ever seen.  He's a fan of ten-second kneading every ten minutes for thirty minutes rather than the traditional 10 minute knead.  I must admit, I follow his method now even if the recipe isn't his.  But with these cheese rolls, it's even simpler.  Mix the ingredients to a dough.  Rest for ten minutes.  One ten second knead.  First rise.  Shape.  Second rise.  Bake.  Job Done.  This went really well until I decided to pop to the shops with Miss A for picnic supplies.  I had an hour to kill while I waited for the second rise.  Except it took nearly two hours with her in tow (we had to stop in the cafe for a babyccino) and so when I came back, my nicely sized torpedoes were enormous.

Still they baked well and my only failure was not to put them on baking parchment because all the cheese that oozed out welded itself to my baking tray.  Then the husband saw them and announced 'I don't like bread with cheese in it', thus ending my only hope of giving him something additive and preservative free (he didn't eat any strawberries).  His loss I guess.  Actually, I should've already known this after his similar pronouncement last time I made cheese bread for a picnic.

Miss A and I enjoyed them very much although I have a feeling they have to be eaten when fresh and won't keep well.  Luckily I only made half the recipe.  Really easy to do as I just used half a beaten egg in the mix and saved the rest for the egg wash.  And the local herd of sheep came racing across the field the minute I unwrapped my torpedo, encircled us and didn't leave until I'd finished.  Can't help wondering now if sheep are partial to cheese?

I'd probably make these again if I had a social barbecue.  They'd be great filled with something tasty from the grill - maybe really good quality burgers in lieu of a cheese burger.  I know the recipe uses onions and mustard (I replaced that with paprika) but I think they'd work really well with finely diced jalapenos - and then filled with a Mexican burger with loads of guac, pico de gallo and sour cream.  Yummy!

Recipe can be found here