Cheese Top Rolls

These are my children's absolute favourite bread rolls.  They beg for me to make  them for them all the time and, I have to agree, they are super lush.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

500g white bread flour

Vegetable oil or Olive oil 3 tablespoons 

340ml warm water

7g dried yeast

15ml of granulated sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

150g cheese (I use the strongest cheddar cheese I can find)

Method

Step 1

Mix the flour and the salt together in a bowl

Step 2

Pour in the oil and stir in until barely visible.

Step 3

In a cup put the yeast, sugar and 150ml of warm waster, wait until it begins to foam then pour into the flour mix and stir in well.

Step 4

Add the rest of the warm water and need until it turns into smooth ball of dough then leave to rise in the bowl for 1 hour with cling film on the top.

Step 5 

kneed again for 5 minutes and break into 9 equal parts.

Step 6

Roll each part into a round shape and place on a baking tray with equal amounts of space between them.  

Step 7

Push a couple of your fingers into the centre of each ball of dough to make a well.  Put a tablespoon of grated cheese into each well.

Step 8

Leave for 30 minutes to rise further and then out in a preheated oven set at 200C - bake for 15 minutes!

Soft Cheese Bread Rolls

I made these this week when I was experimenting in the kitchen with the flour I had in, throughout lockdown flour (especially bread flour!) and yeast have been so hard to find here...  it actually turned out really well and makes lush soft bread rolls laced in cheese.

Takes 2 Hours to make and bake

Ingredients:

Wholemeal bread flour 50g 

Self raising flour 450g 

Plain flour 250g 

Dried yeast 7g 

1 teaspoon of sugar

500ml of lukewarm water

Grated butter 100g 

Grated cheddar cheese 75g 

1 teaspoon of salt

How to make Soft Cheese bread rolls:

In a small bowl add the yeast, sugar and 100g of the lukewarm water.  Stir and leave for 10 minutes.  

While you're waiting for the yeast, put all the flours into a bowl and add the grated butter and cheese and stir in with a spoon.  add the salt and stir again.

The yeast should be foamy on top at this point.  Pour this yeast mixture into the flour and mix in using a mixer and kneading tools or by hand and slowly add the rest of the lukewarm water until you have a dough that you can knead without it sticking to your hands.  Add slowly as you might not need quite all of it and you don't want the dough to be sticky.

Knead well and then set in a bowl dusted with flour so the dough doesn't stick as it proves.  Leave your dough for an hour, it will rise so it's double in size. 

  

Make sure your Oven is pre-heated to 170C ready for the bread. 

Prepare 2 baking trays - to do this I rub a thin amount of butter around and sprinkle just enough flour to cover it very lightly. 

When your dough has proven, push all the air out of it with your fists and knead for another 5-10 minutes really well.

Cut the dough into 12 equal parts and shape them into rolls, they will double in size when they cook in the oven so make sure there is enough room for them to expand on the baking trays

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes      

They should be brown all over, the crust should be soft and look something like this when you cut them open... 

These are great just with butter or as a bun for a burger.   This batch was so good my children came running down the stairs begging for some straight out of the oven and wanted seconds. 

Greek Psomi Bread

This is an Ancient Greek bread, seen in that time as a superior bread as it's traditionally a white bread.  Socrates himself said that wholemeal bread was for the pigs, so Psomi was very popular and still is today!

After discovering George Psarais' Facebook group, George's Mediterranean Kitchen, I was inspired by the recipes we posted and I realised I have never tried to bake Greek Bread before, so I began reading! I read all the recipes I could find to try and make the most traditional style Psomi bread that I could so I could share it here with you.  

I have tried and tested this recipe and it works so well, but all the steps must be followed carefully for it to work.  If you're looking for a soft but crusty loaf of slightly sweetened bread then this one is perfect for you.

Ingredients:

2 sachets of dried yeast 14g

1/2 a cup (62g) of plain flour

4 floz lukewarm water This water needs to be between 25C and 35C.  

2 Tablespoons of Honey

2 Tablespoons of Milk

2 1/2 Cups (320g) Plain flour

1 Tablespoon of Salt

2 Tablespoons of Olive oil

About 2 cups of lukewarm Water

First add the dried yeast, the 1/2 cup of plain flour, honey and 4 floz lukewarm water together in a clean bowl. 

With a wooden spoon mix it together well and leave for an hour in a warm room, without covering the bowl.  This allows the yeast to ferment.  It should foam and bubble increasing in size.

It's really important to make sure the temperature of the water is between 25 and 35 degrees Celcius.  Too hot and the yeast will die and it won't work, too cold and the fermenting process will take too long and won't be ready after the hour of waiting for the right amount of fermentation.

Add the 2 /1/2 cups of flour, salt, olive and milk in a separate bowl and mix together.  

Add the yeast mixture to your flour add only as much lukewarm water to make the dough so it's no longer sticky (the dough should come off your hands and stick to the rest of the dough).

It's really important to only add a little water at a time in this second stage, as too much and it could ruin your dough.  I used very little of the 2 cups I suggested to have ready at a lukewarm temperature. 

Knead the bread really well.  I use a hand mixer with kneading tools, to make sure the mixture is worked in well.

In the bottom of a clean bowl add another tablespoon of olive oil, place your ball of dough in the bowl and gentle move it about so that all the olive oil spreads round the whole inside of the bowl.

Leave the dough in the bowl and cover the bowl with cling film and leave for one hour to prove.

Pre-heat your oven ready for the next stage.  I have a fan oven and set the temperature at 170C.

After the hour, when you go back to your dough, it will more than double in size if all has worked out for you.

Push the air our of it and then with your hands knead the dough again one last time until it is smooth.

This bread is traditionally a flat loaf so I prepare a flat baking tray, I smear the baking tray lightly in olive oil, to help prevent the bread sticking to it during the cooking process.

Place your dough on the prepared tray and leave in the oven for an hour.  It should be a really golden brown all over and the crust should be super crunchy and the inside super soft and fluffy.

Easy Milk Loaf Recipe

Ingredients:

15ml dried Yeast

10ml golden caster sugar

500g Strong white flour

40g butter

350ml of milk

You will also need a 2lb loaf tin.  To prepare, grease and dust with flour so your bread easily falls out when cooked.

This makes one very rich and tasty milk loaf, here's the method...

First pre heat your oven to 200 degrees C

Now measure your flour into a large bowl, add the butter and rub it into the flour.

Now heat a pan of water.

When the water is bubbling vigorously, put your milk in a pyrex measuring jug and place the jug in the water, a bain marie, and leave for 5 minutes or until the milk is warm.

In a small bowl, or cup, add your yeast and sugar.

Pour in some of the warm milk about 50ml -100ml of it.  Wait for the yeast to begin to grow.

We used a mixer with the kneading tool to make our bread.

Pour the yeast, sugar and milk mix into your bowl and knead on a slow speed.

Add the rest of the milk and knead for another 5 - 10 minutes.

Shape your dough and place in your loaf tin.  Leave for 45 minutes.

Put your loaf in the oven for 30 minutes.

It should turn golden brown.

Leave to cool and enjoy.

Cheese, tomato and basil spelt wheels

These are yummy and they're so healthy too!

Makes about 24 wheels

Ingredients:

• 500g Spelt flour 
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 7g dried yeast
• 300g warm water
• 2 tablespoons of Tomato purée 
• A small handful of fresh basil chopped finely
• 75g Grated strong cheese, we used cheddar cheese.
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Method:

STEP ONE

Mix the tomato puree with the freshly chopped basil in a small bowl and leave on the side until STEP SIX.

STEP TWO

Mix the Honey and yeast with about 100ml of your warm water in a cup or a glass. Leave for 5 minutes.

STEP THREE

 

Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and mix together.

 

STEP FOUR

 

Pour the yeast, honey and water mix into the flour and mix well, then add the rest of the water and knead for 5 minutes.

 

STEP FIVE

 

Place your dough on a clean, well floured surface and, using a rolling pin, roll it out so it is about half a cm thick.

 

STEP SIX

 

Using the back of a spoon spread the tomato and basil paste on your bread as you would with pizza.

 

STEP SEVEN

 

Sprinkle your grated cheese over as evenly as possible.

 

STEP EIGHT

 

Carefully roll your dough up like a Swiss roll - this is why you need a well floured surface.

 

STEP NINE

 

Carefully and gently, with a bread knife is best I have found, cut in to 2cm thick slices and place each slice down on a baking tray. 

 

STEP TEN

 

Pre-heat the oven to 200 C and leave them to rise for 20 minutes.

 

STEP ELEVEN

 

Put the pinwheels in the oven for 25 minutes on a middle shelf.

 

ENJOY!