Cheesy garlic buns

Preheat your oven to 225°C/205°C (fan). Cut the top off the head of garlic, so as to slightly expose the cloves inside and place on a piece of kitchen foil. Drizzle with 2 tbsp of olive oil, then wrap the garlic in foil. Bake for 35 minutes and let cool. Next, remove the mushy garlic cloves from their pods.

While your garlic is in the oven, add the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil to the water and mix with the flour, yeast and salt (at opposite sides of the bowl). Mix until well combined and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise until doubled in size (about 40 minutes).

Put the ball of dough back on the surface, knock back and roll into a baguette-shaped piece of dough. Divide into 15 pieces of (roughly) the same size, rolling each one into a small ball.

Roll out each ball into a flat disk. Take a lump of cheese and place it in the middle, then top with garlic. Pinch up the edges and seal. Place your lookbol (pinched side down) on an oiled baking tray. Repeat for the rest of your dough. Make sure you don’t leave too much room in between if you want to make a tear ‘n’ share; otherwise space well apart.

Cover with a dampened kitchen towel and leave until doubled in size (about half an hour).

When the dough is nearly ready, preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C (fan). Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven, brush with 1 tsbp of oil and sprinkle with poppy seeds. You can eat them straight away (do be careful not to burn your tongue… hot cheese and whatnot) or cold.