These are lovely homemade Cheese Rolls with a herb butter to make in the morning and serve fresh on the day for lunch. They are very easy; the only technique you need is a little bit of patience during the two proving stages. No specialist equipment needed either!
For this recipe you will need two lined baking trays. The dough can be made by hand so no mixer needed.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
7g Yeast (Dried Active)
1/2 Tsp Caster Sugar
290ml Lukewarm Milk
450g Strong Bread Flour
2 Tsp Salt
1 Medium Egg, lightly beaten
Oil for greasing
For the cheese rolls:
80g Cheddar Cheese
80g Emmental Cheese
1 Medium Egg, lightly beaten
For the herb butter:
100g Unsalted Butter, softened
Handful of Fresh Chives, chopped
Handful of Fresh Parsley, chopped
How I make my cheese rolls and herb butter:
First make the dough as this needs time for proving. Dissolve the yeast, sugar and a little of the lukewarm milk in a bowl for c.15 minutes. You should start to see bubbles appear on the surface.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Pour in the yeast mixture, the remainder of the milk and the egg and stir with a round-ended knife until the dough comes together.
Tip out onto a floured surface and kneed the dough for c.10 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic (it springs back when pressed with your finger).
Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave somewhere warm for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size (it might need longer or shorter depending on your room temperature). Once the dough is doubled in size, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and gently kneed for 1 minute to distribute the air and get rid of any large bubbles. Form the dough into a ball.
Next we turn the dough into cheese rolls. Flatten the dough slightly and sprinkle with half of the cheddar and emmental, and kneed it into the dough so it is evenly distributed. Divide the dough into 16 even portions (I used my scales to help me) and shape each portion into a ball in the palm of your hand.
Place each ball onto a lightly floured baking sheet, and then brush with the beaten egg.
Cover the baking tray with clingfilm (loosely) and leave to prove in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size. You can start to pre-heat your oven to 170ºC Fan.
Now make the herb butter. In a bowl, beat the butter until it is super soft, and then add in the herbs and continue beating until you have a smooth butter. Transfer to a butter dish for serving.
Before baking your cheese rolls, add the remaining cheese to the top of the rolls and bake for 20-25 minutes and they are golden, risen and cooked through (if you tap the bottom it sounds hollow).
Allow to cool until just warm. Serve with the butter as well as other accompaniments such as a selection of cheese, hummus, cold meats and salad.
Tip
If you are having friends round for lunch I guarantee that homemade cheese rolls will impress their socks off!
While these are best eaten on the day of baking, I had leftovers and toasted them lightly the next day and served for breakfast with scrambled egg! No waste in my house!