THE RED LEICESTER RIOT 🍅🧀

My outrageous wholemeal ketchup-and-cheese loaf for the Panasonic PN100

There are sensible things to put in a breadmaker. Then there’s strong wholemeal flour, tomato ketchup and a generous helping of orange cheese. Naturally, that’s where I’m heading. Welcome to the Red Leicester Riot: my latest little baking experiment, designed to bring the flavours of cheese on toast into the loaf itself. Traditional wholemeal bread has slipped on an orange jacket and wandered into the late-night snack department.

The idea is wonderfully simple. Wholemeal flour supplies that hearty, nutty backbone; ketchup brings sweetness and a tangy tomato kick; Red Leicester adds savoury richness and a colour that feels comfortably at home in the NIX kitchen. Add a little smoked paprika and chilli if you fancy it, and this humble loaf starts developing a rather cheeky personality.

My Panasonic PN100 is a compact breadmaker, so the recipe stays with a 250g flour base. No enormous loaf attempting to lift the lid and escape across the worktop. For this wholemeal version, I’m using Menu 4 — Whole Wheat — which takes five hours and has no add-in beep or adjustable crust setting. The cheese therefore goes into the pan at the beginning.

This is an experimental NIX recipe, rather than a Panasonic-tested formula. I’m expecting a hearty, fairly dense loaf with a subtle tomato tint and cheese blended through the crumb. The hero image captures the ambition—and the gloriously cheesy serving suggestion—rather than documenting a loaf I’ve already baked.

Ingredients for one small PN100 loaf:

• 250g strong wholemeal bread flour • 1 level teaspoon easy-bake instant yeast • 40g tomato ketchup • 50g mature Red Leicester, finely grated • 10g butter • ½ level teaspoon salt • 175ml room-temperature water • Optional: ½ teaspoon smoked paprika • Optional: ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes

Extra-mature Cheddar can replace the Red Leicester if you want a sharper cheese flavour. Red Leicester is my choice for the orange riot; Cheddar is the one arriving with its sleeves rolled up.

There’s no extra sugar in this recipe because the ketchup already supplies sweetness. I’ve also allowed for the moisture it contributes when setting the starting water quantity. Ketchup brands and wholemeal flours vary, though, so the dough’s texture during kneading is more useful than blindly assuming every batch will behave identically.

Fit the kneading paddle, then add the yeast and cover it with the wholemeal flour. Add the salt, butter and any optional spices, followed by the finely grated cheese, scattered evenly. Stir the ketchup into the measured water and pour that mixture in last.

Select Menu 4 — Whole Wheat — and start straight away. With cheese in the mixture, skip the delay timer. Panasonic’s standard loading order is yeast, flour, other ingredients and then liquids.

Once active kneading is under way and everything has mixed thoroughly, briefly check the dough. I’m looking for a soft, slightly tacky dough that comes together, rather than dry crumbs rattling around the pan. If it looks too dry, add water in small 5ml increments, allowing each addition to mix before deciding whether it needs more. Keep hands and utensils clear of the moving paddle.

Then close the lid and let the machine get on with its work. Five hours is plenty of time to contemplate what constitutes a reasonable amount of cheese. I suspect my answer will be unpopular with nutrition spreadsheets.

The ketchup should give the loaf a gentle sweet-and-tangy tomato character. The wholemeal flour should keep it robust and nutty, while finely grated cheese should spread savoury flavour throughout the dough. Don’t expect huge stretchy pockets of melted cheese inside: much of it will blend into the bread during mixing and baking.

That’s exactly why the serving suggestion matters. The loaf supplies the foundation; the topping supplies the theatre.

When the programme finishes, remove the bread promptly using oven gloves and turn it onto a wire rack. Check whether the kneading blade has stayed inside the loaf, then leave it to cool for at least an hour before slicing. A little patience here gives the crumb time to settle—and avoids turning the first slice into a warm, squashed souvenir.

Take a thick slice, toast it lightly, spread over a little ketchup and pile on more grated Red Leicester. Put it under the grill until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to colour, watching it closely. The result I’m chasing is crisp-edged wholemeal bread, sweet tomato tang and a molten orange crown.

This is where the hero image earns its place: dark surroundings, golden crust, rich red ketchup and cheese catching the light. A tiny breadmaker loaf enjoying the sort of dramatic entrance normally reserved for a Norwegian fjord.

For a look at making a wholemeal loaf in the PN100, this video covers the machine and the process. It demonstrates a separate recipe, rather than this ketchup-and-cheese experiment.

And here’s another PN100 test and review for anyone curious about the compact breadmaker behind the riot.

What I love about this idea is how familiar the ingredients are. Wholemeal bread, tomato ketchup and cheese: nothing fancy, nothing requiring a specialist shopping expedition. Just everyday cupboard-and-fridge favourites given a new job.

Now comes the enjoyable part: finding out how the first bake behaves. If the balance lands where I want it, this could become a wonderfully cheeky base for toast, sandwiches or a bowl of hot soup. And if a slice ends up beneath another avalanche of bubbling cheese? Well, the clue was in the name.

THE RED LEICESTER RIOT. Small loaf. Big orange ambitions. 🍅🧀🔥