INGREDIENTS:

3 cups bread flour (Note 1 re: plain/all-purpose flour)

2 tsp instant yeast aka rapid rise (Note 2)

1 & 1/2 tsp cooking/kosher salt

1 & 1/2 cups very warm tap water (Note 3)

(optional)

Filling ingredients

(Cheese & bacon (300g each), vegemite & cheese, or fetta & spinach.)

3 tbsp of melted butter (40 seconds in microwave)

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Shaggy dough – Using a rubber spatula, mix flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Add water, then mix using the handle of the spatula until you can no longer see flour. The dough should be too sticky to knead by hand, but not pourable like cake batter

2) Rise #1 – Cover with cling wrap and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 & 1/2 hours until the dough doubles in volume (Note 5). The surface should be bubbly, and the mixture should jiggle when you shake the bowl.

3) Roll out – Punch the dough to deflate in the bowl. Lightly flour a work surface, turn the dough out then use your hands to roughly shape it into a rectangle. Then roll out into a 48 x 28 cm / 11 x 19”rectangle using a rolling pin.

4) Spread the dough with butter then with Vegemite. Brush evenly with melted butter if desired and then sprinkle the whole area evenly with filling of choice.

5) Cut – Roll up into a log then cut into 12 even pieces.

6) Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced). Lightly grease the muffin trays.

7) Rise #2 – Place the scrolls into the muffin tray. Spray a piece of cling wrap lightly with oil then cover the pan. Let the scrolls rise in a warm place for 30 minutes or until they expand/rise by about 30-50%.

8) Bake – Top the scrolls with cheese. Bake for 25 minutes. Then rotate the pan and bake for a further 10 minutes at 200°C/375°F (180°C fan-forced) or until the cheese on the surface of the scrolls around the edge of the pan are light golden.

9) Rest – Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then remove from tray and cool for a further 5 minutes. Then devour!

Best eaten warm. 30 seconds in the microwave!

 

 

NOTES:

1. Bread flour – more chewy result like your favourite (expensive!) artisan bakery bread. Plain/all-purpose flour works fine but not quite as chewy.

 

2. Instant yeast – Doesn’t need to be frothed in warm water, just mix straight into dry ingredients. Comes in canisters, labelled as “instant yeast”.

To active dry yeast (ie normal yeast) – Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water first (no need to let it foam). Then mix in remaining water. Immediately add flour and salt, then mix. Proceed with recipe as written.

 

3. Water – Not boiling (kills yeast), not lukewarm (inhibits dough rising). Stick your finger in. Happy to bathe in it? Perfect temp! (If you want to be accurate, 35C/95F is a good target, but the acceptable range is fairly broad. This bread is forgiving!)

 

4. Other cheeses – Any cheese (other than mozzarella) that melts well will work great here, like cheddar, tasty, Monterey Jack, gruyere. I like Colby for it’s melting qualities and it doesn’t weigh the bread down as it rises in the oven, and it’s not greasy (like Tasty cheese). Re: mozzarella – it will work fine but it doesn’t have enough flavour in it compared to other cheeses.

 

5. Warm place = ~25°C/77°F+. Warmer = faster rise. Avoid direct sunlight. Neat trick – your dryer! Run it (empty) for a few minutes. Put bowl in, shut door. Nice and warm inside = perfect draught free dough rising location!

 

6. Folding inwards – Dust the dough scraper with flour as needed. No need to worry about being meticulous here, we can reshape it later, this is more about deflating the dough and enclosing the cheese inside the dough.

Shaping dough – The dough expands so much in the oven and the pot defines the shape so there’s not much point shaping it. You don’t even need to tidy it that much. Just roughly shape it into a uniform round or oval.

 

7. No dutch oven method – use 20cm/8” square metal pan (NOT glass, may shatter). Place in oven on middle shelf where bread will bake (or shelf under if tray won’t fit on same shelf), preheat oven. Boil kettle. Place paper with shaped dough on a baking tray. When you put the bread in, work fast as follows – place bread in oven next to (or on the shelf above) the pan, fill pan with about 2cm/1″ boiling water, shut oven door = makeshift dutch oven steamer effect! Bake for 40 minutes until it’s a deep golden brown (if it gets too brown because of the cheese, cover loosely with foil).

 

8. Resting bread for at least 10 minutes before cutting is essential as it will finish cooking and dry the crumb out. If you slice before then, the dough will look raw (it’s not, but it will seem like it is).

 

9. Make-ahead – Overnight refrigeration of the Crusty Artisan Bread on which the Cheese Bread dough is based not only works 100% (re: rising) but the bread develops more flavour. As yet untested for cheese bread! Concerned the amount of cheese in this might affect the rising ability. Will update once tested.

 

10. Storage – The bread is at its prime freshly made and still great for 24–36 hours. Will last 3-5 days if refrigerated. And 6 weeks if frozen.