Rolled Bread of Parma ham, Nice cheese, Egg and Basil

For the Bread:
1kg/just over 2lb strong white bread flour
625ml/just over a pint tepid water
30g/1oz fresh yeast or 3x7g/1/4oz sachets dried yeast
2tbsp sugar
2level tbsp 30g/1oz salt
extra flour for dusting

For the filling:
10 slices of parma ham
8 eggs, boiled for 8 minutes and shelled
400g/14oz cheese (a mixture of Cheddar, Fontina, Parmesan, or any leftover bits that need to be used up), grated
2 handfuls of fresh basil
Optional: sundried tomatoes or plum tomatoes, and olives, halved
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper




Make a well in the center of the flour. Pour half the water into the well, then add your yeast, sugar, and salt and stir with a fork.
Continue to mix bringing in the flour from the inside of the well, until you have a porridgey consistency, then add the remaining water. Continue to mix bringing in all the flour. Flour your hands and start kneading, adding more flour as necessary. Knead for 4 to 5 min, till silky and elastic.
Flour the top of your dough. Put it in a bowl and cover it with cling film and allow to prove for about half an hour, or till it’s doubled in size.
Once it has doubled, take it out and knock all the air out of it for about 30 seconds.
Shape it into a long rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. It should be about 39inches long, and about 7 or 8 inches wide.
Lay all of your filling ingredients down the center of the dough, then drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Pull the dough over the filling so that it forms what looks like a cannelloni shape, then bring one end round to the other so that they join up, and pinch them together. It should be a donut shaped loaf.
Transfer to a flour dusted baking tray (I always use baking paper). Allow to prove for 15 min, then dust with flour and bake at 180c/350f for 35 min until golden.

This bread was so amazingly good, you have no idea. It is the perfect thing for a picnic because it’s a whole meal in a bread. It’s also perfect for eating when you are not on a picnic. It tastes like really good pizza, and really good bread both. The recipe says that a couple of the ingredients are optional, but they’re not really they are actually integral to the perfection of the bread.

It’s also a cool recipe because you could probably fill it with just about anything that you like. I think I might try making one with feta and spinach and olives, but I bet it would also be good with a potato and pea type mixture, or really anything that’s good with bread (which is everything).

This was another Jamie Oliver. I had been wanting to make it for a while, and with the parents visiting it seemed like the perfect time for something festive.

Make this bread. It’s too good not to.