White Cheese (feta) and Herb Loaf - Beyaz Peynirli ve Otlu Kek

I've been doing rather a lot of gezzing recently.

And what is this word 'gezzing' you may well ask: it originally comes from the Turkish verb, gezmek.  Loosely speaking, it means to go around, to visit, to be out and about, and this is exactly what I have been doing. It's a great word, so expressive. This past weekend we were in Berlin, a city that we took to our hearts immediately: lots of gezzing there!

But we got back late last night - the airport was unbelievably crowded - so now it's back to reality: off to the market, Migros, filling up the fridge. It's back to the kitchen and cooking again! Being away is all very well but don't you find there comes a moment when the idea of Home looms large and you yearn to be able to eat exactly what you like when you like?

white cheese and herb loaf cooling in the tin

I had seen the picture of this cheesy herby loaf in the Woman&home Feel Good Food magazine that I brought back recently so today was poised to try it. The caption read:

Perfect with your lunchtime bowl of soup to add a protein punch.

Indeed. Or here in Turkey, it could read:

Perfect with a glass of çay in the middle of a winter's afternoon.

This would make the ideal tuzlu or savoury component of a teaparty, I thought. Followed by something sweet, of course - the tatlı element. Perhaps the carrot and almond cheesecake that I made last week from the same source?

golden cheesy herby loaf

I'm very fond of savoury loaves like this: this particular one contains two varieties of cheese and three herbs - the kitchen was warm and fragrant while it was cooking. For the white cheese/feta, I went to my little local shop run by several entrepreneurial village women in search of the böreklik variety. It wouldn't really matter what kind you used but this is the more authentic type to get for something like this: it crumbles in just the right way! And even though we can find gruyere nowadays (at a price), I used my standby of old, eski kaşar, a hard yellow cheese that never lets me down.

So here is the recipe for White Cheese and Herb Loaf or Beyaz Peynirli ve Otlu Kek

Serves 12

Easy to prepare, can be made ahead, and also frozen

Ingredients

185g/6 1/2 oz plain flour

1tbsp baking powder

3 eggs REMEMBER TO TAKE THEM OUT OF THE FRIDGE BEFOREHAND

100ml/4fl oz olive oil

1tbsp sunflower oil

100ml/4fl oz milk

pinch ground black pepper

200g/7oz white cheese/feta, roughly crumbled

100g/4oz Gruyere, grated

6 mint leaves/nane, chopped

2 sprigs rosemary/biberiye, leaves stripped and chopped

3 tbsp chopped parsley/maydonoz

You will need a 900g/2lb loaf tin, greased and lined with baking parchment

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C, 160C fan, 350F, Gas 4.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Beat together the eggs, oils and milk, then beat into the flour with the pepper, cheeses and herbs. Stir well until you have a soft dropping consistency.

beating ...

then stirring ..

ready for the oven

• Spread the mixture in the loaf tin and bake for 40-50 mins. I GAVE MINE EXTRA TIME AS I WANTED TO BE SURE IT WOULDN'T BE TOO WET INSIDE - maybe another 20 mins? Test with a skewer to see if done. The loaf will be golden brown.

• Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out completely.

slice and serve!

This is delicious on its own but can be served with a crunchy salad if having for a light lunch, or with çay as I have suggested!

Afiyet olsun!