Herby cheese soda bread

Ingredients

• 250 g plain wholemeal flour
• 200 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 50 g porridge oats, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 1 large free-range egg
• 300 g buttermilk or natural yoghurt
• 100 g Red Leicester or Cheddar cheese
• Olive oil

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix together both flours, the oats, bicarb and 1 level teaspoon of sea salt. Pick and finely chop the rosemary leaves and stir most of them into the mixture, reserving the remainder.
2. Make a well in the middle, crack in the egg and add the buttermilk, then mix thoroughly with a fork. Gradually bring in the flour from the outside, then use your clean lightly floured hands to pat and bring the dough together.
3. Chop the cheese into chunks, mix in, then shape the dough into a ball, using your clean oiled hands to flatten it into a disc, roughly 3cm deep. Sprinkle over a few extra oats and a little sea salt, patting them on to the dough. Score a deep criss-cross pattern into the top, then carefully place in the air-fryer drawer and cook for 20 minutes at 180ºC.
4. Rub the reserved chopped rosemary with 1 teaspoon of olive oil, sprinkle over the bread and cook for another 10 minutes at 180ºC, or until a firm crust has formed and the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
5. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and serve warm.

Nutrition (per serve)

Energy: 286 kcal; Protein: 12.3 g; Carbohydrate: 45.9 g (Sugars 3 g; Fat: 7.3 g (Saturated fat: 3.3 g); Fibre: 4.1 g; Salt 1.5g.

Recipe and image from Easy Air Fryer by Jamie Oliver, published by Penguin Michael Joseph © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited (2025 Easy Air Fryer). Recipe photography: © David Loftus, 2025.