Bulgarian cheese bread (Tutmanik)

1. Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the lukewarm milk and leave for 10 minutes until frothy.

2. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, add the yeasted milk, the yoghurt, one egg and half the melted butter, and knead into a soft, sticky dough; cover and leave to rise for 1 hour.

3. Coarsely crumble two-thirds of the cheese (sirene). Divide the risen dough into 3 and press each piece into a rectangle about 1 cm thick.

4. Place the first sheet in a buttered tin of about 24 cm, sprinkle with half the crumbled cheese, add the second sheet and the rest of the crumbled cheese, then the third sheet; leave to rise for 20 minutes.

5. Brush the top with the second egg, crumble over the remaining cheese and bake at 190 °C for 35-40 minutes until deep golden; brush immediately with the remaining melted butter.

6. Serve lukewarm, torn by hand, with yoghurt or ayran (a thinned, salted yoghurt drink) – the festive bread of a Bulgarian Sunday breakfast.

Tip: The village version of tutmanik is baked to welcome guests and is torn apart like a sharing bread. If you have no sirene, use feta; instead of layering, you can also knead the cheese into the dough.