Method

• 1.
  Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. If the cheese comes in a box, flip it over and use it as a stencil to cut the same shape into the middle of the cob with a small serrated knife (or cut a round by eye roughly the same size and shape as the cheese).
• 2.
  Cut the cob loaf in a crisscross fashion around this central round to form bread soldiers, making sure not to cut all the way through to the bottom. Tear out the central round in pieces and reserve.
• 3.
  In a bowl, mix chopped garlic, parsley and half the olive oil together into a paste. Spoon a little of the mixture between the cracks of the cob soldiers. Pour remaining oil into the dregs of the paste and toss the reserved bits of bread in it.
• 4.
  Place the cheese in the hole and poke in half the thyme sprigs and the remaining garlic slices. Pour the wine over the cheese. Pop the cob loaf on the baking tray, surrounded by the oiled-up bits of bread. Bake for 20 minutes.
• 5.
  Remove the cob from the baking tray and place on a wooden board to serve. Sprinkle the remaining thyme leaves and some cracked black pepper on top. Enjoy with good company and a glass of that wine by ripping the bread soldiers off and dipping into the molten cheese fondue.