Here’s another update to a post from Christmas Past that I finally got around to translating into video. My original recipe here gets a boost from rosemary and far more cheese than you should eat in one bun but it’s Christmas and indulgence is encouraged. You can of course exercise some restraint and make a cheese-free batch any time of year that’s equally delicious. Cast iron baking makes them foolproof.
Cheese & Rosemary Stuffed Pull-Apart Buns
(note: unstuffed version for everyday linked above)
Depending on your pan size, you may end up with an extra roll that won’t fit in with room to spare. Don’t try to shoehorn it into place if you want fluffy results. Just park it on a bit of foil next to the pan and eat it hot from the oven as a baker’s perk but remember it will finish baking on its own several minutes earlier.
500 grams high-gluten flour *
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons rapid rise dry yeast
300 ml warm water @ 45C (~115F)
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (plus more for optional post-bake brushing)
1 – 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely minced
200g mixed cheeses, 1 cm (1/2-inch) diced
Yield: 7-9 generous rolls
* By all reports, Canadian all-purpose flour has a more protein content than some international counterparts thanks to our hard wheat crop. You may need to substitute with “strong” or “bread” flour, in whole or in part, to get the structure you desire out of your rolls.
Weigh the flour into the bowl of an upright mixer fitted with a dough hook or your favourite large manual mixing basin. Add the salt and sugar blending well to combine.
Separately, mix the yeast into the warm water to bloom for ten minutes. Stir oil and (cooled) butter together adding all but one tablespoon reserved for brushing to the bloomed yeast. Mix into the flour loosely by hand to form a shaggy dough then walk away for ten minutes to autolyse.
Add the rosemary and continue to knead five to ten minutes by machine or hand respectively. Place in a lightly oiled bowl covered loosely to rise until double in size, about an hour in a warm undisturbed place. On cold Canadian mornings I use a closed oven warmed briefly to take off the chill.
Punch down the dough and add the cheese. Fold several times to incorporate then portion palm-size dough balls working each to ensuring any exposed cheese gets covered by dough. Smooth with a cupped hand on a clean flat surface placing each in a parchment-lined 10- to 12-inch cast iron pan (cold) being sure not to crowd the pan – leave half the space empty to allow for rise. Surplus dough is likely and can be baked separately on the side.
Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and allow to rise fully in a warm space so that the rolls touch and pillow above the rim of the skillet slightly, usually another ninty minutes because of the weight of the cheese.
Halfway through the final rise, preheat the oven fully to 235C (450F).
Brush the tops of the buns gently with remaining melted butter/oil mix being careful not to deflate them. Bake for five minutes then **reduce the heat to 205C (400F)** for a further fifteen to twenty minutes until an internal temperature of 100C (210F) is reached. Rotate the pan front to back midway to ensure even baking. Allow to cool in the pan on a rack for ten minutes brushing with additional butter if desired after five minutes cooling.
Serve warm or cool completely before sealing in plastic for up to three days. All mozzarella with pepperoni experiments are continuing.
-msh v.3.8
