Sundried Tomato, Olive and Pesto Cheese Whirls

These tear and share bread rolls are soft and salty, perfect for lunch or to go with soup.

I immediately wanted to try making these rolls after seeing them on the BBC Good Food website as they looked so tempting! I have adapted the recipe to my taste and to what I had in the cupboard but you can find the original recipe here.

Makes 12 rolls | prep time 40 minutes + about 2 hour rising time | cooking time 40 minutes

Ingredients

450g strong white bread flour, plus a little for dusting

7g sachet fast-action dried yeast

1 tsp golden caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp fine salt

2 tbsp olive oil, plus a drizzle

150g tub fresh pesto

210g sun dried tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped

40g black olives, roughly chopped

100g grated mozzarella (I used fresh mozzerella and squeezed most of the liquid out using a tea towel)

50g parmesan, grated

Method

1. Combine the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a tabletop mixer. Measure out 300ml warm water and add roughly 280ml to the flour, along with the olive oil, and start mixing until the ingredients start to clump together as a dough. If the dough seems a little dry, add the remaining water.

2. Once combined, knead for 10 mins by hand on your work surface, or for 5 mins on a medium speed in a mixer. The dough is ready when it feels soft, springy and elastic. Clean the bowl, drizzle in a little oil, then pop the dough back in, turning it over and coating the sides of the bowl in oil. Cover with some oiled cling film and set aside in a warm place to double in size – this will take about 1hr 30 min, depending on the temperature.

3. Line a 20cm x 30cm baking tray with parchment. Uncover the dough and punch it down a couple of times with your fist, knocking out all the air bubbles. Tip out onto a floured work surface and dust the top with a little flour too, if it is sticky. Roll the dough out to a rectangle, roughly 40 x 30cm. Spread the pesto over the dough, then scatter over the tomatoes, both cheeses and the basil. Roll the dough up from one of the longer sides, into a long sausage.

4. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 12 even pieces. Place on the baking tray, cut-side up, in a 3-by-4 formation, making sure the open end of each roll is tucked in towards the centre on the arrangement – this will prevent them from uncoiling during cooking. Leave a little space between each roll as they will grow and touch as they prove. Loosely cover with oiled cling film and leave to prove for 40 mins until almost doubled in size again. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.

5. Uncover the bread when it is puffed up. Bake on the middle shelf in the oven for 35-40 mins until golden brown and the centre looks dry and not doughy. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least 10 mins.

Tip: while the rolls are still warm, I like to drizzle them with a little extra olive oil for added taste and moistness!