* Cheese and Ham Loaf

I've been battling the urge to turn the heating on, and I reckon tonight is the night that I'm going to give in. We have storage heaters, so have to predict what the temperatures will be the following day, and heat the house accordingly. If we get it wrong, we either boil or freeze. 

This happens ALOT.

I got home from work today and the house was too cold to just sit in, so I decided to warm the place up and use the oven to make my lunch. I'm running low on supplies at the moment - a rarity that more often than not, requires a brown paper bag and lots of blowing in and out of it (I HATE when my cupboards are bare)... anyhoo - I had a bit of ham left and some cheese, so decided I'd make a ham and cheese loaf and eat it whilst it was still warm from the oven, smothered in two inches of butter.

What?

I'm having a fat day.

Makes one savoury loaf

Prep time - 5 minutes

Cooking time -  30 - 40 minutes (fan oven)

You will need

a bowl OR a kenwood chef/kitchen aid

A 1 lb loaf tin

baking parchment

Ingredients

225g self raising flour

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt - if you're using a really strong cheese, leave the salt out

75g butter - cut into small pieces

125g cheddar (or whatever you've got) - grated

75g smoked ham - roughly chopped

2 eggs - beaten

150ml whole milk

Method

Pre heat oven to 180c/160cfan/350f/gas4 - grease and line the loaf tin with the baking parchment.

Sieve together the flour, paprika, baking powder and salt into the bowl of your chosen weapon, add the butter. If doing this by hand, rub the flour and butter together until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs - if using a kenwood/kitchen aid - use the paddle attachment to achieve the same.

Stir in the ham and cheese ( I discovered half way through making this, that I needed more cheese so had to use half cheddar and half Double Gloucester... which is why it's slightly golden in colour).

Mix together the beaten egg and milk, and pour into the bowl. Stir it into the flour, cheese and ham until combined, try not to over work it. Scoop into the prepared loaf tin, making sure it's spread evenly throughout the tin. Bake in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean when pushed into the centre.

Allow to cool in tin before removing and slicing while still a little bit warm. Lovely with a bit of butter on it, or completely naked - you choose. Goes down a treat with tomato soup :0)

NOTE: This bread doesn't keep overly long, so either freeze it or eat within 24 hours.