Nothing satiates the sentient like the gooey, almost raw central mass of a freshly baked sweet roll. As true seekers of new ways to sedate each other with homebaked carbs, we flipped the Cinnabon on its noggin' one New Year's Day and whipped up what has become our favorite recipe for savory rolls. Take everything sweet about a cinnamon roll and invert it: soft sweet bread becomes tart and savory, gooey brown-sugar butter morphs into salty caramelized shallot goo, and frosting slumps into melted aged cheese. Yeah this will take a few hours to a day … but it will hurt your friends and lovers in the most wonderful way.
Ingredients
Serves eight
Sponge starter
Dough
Filling
Step 1
1. Combine all sponge starter ingredients in a mixing bowl. The resulting goo should look wet and reckless. Wrap the bowl up and let it sit in the corner (preferably a warm one) for four hours or as long as overnight.
Step 2
2. Combine all the dry ingredients for the dough in a large bowl or the mixing bowl for a counter top mixer. Mix them, mechanically or manually, so that all they are distributed evenly. Add water, one cup of the sponge, and butter and mix to combine.
Step 3
3. Add the egg. You want to do this after the butter so the egg doesn't cook. Mix by hand for ten to fifteen minutes (three to five with a Kitchen Aid using the paddle on medium speed) until the dough forms a smooth paste. It should still be sticky and stretchy, but not very wet. If you're using a machine; switch to the dough hook and mix for another five minutes on medium; if you're manual, turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead the hell out of it for seven minutes.
Step 4
4. In yet another bowl, add the olive oil and give a swirl. Form the dough into a ball, and roll it in the oil so that it's greasy everywhere. Cover the bowl with plastic and let it sit for an hour in a warm corner.
Step 5
5. For filling, makeCast-Iron Mushroomsbut add 2 pounds of sliced shallots. When the shallots begin to brown, add 1/2 cup cream sherry and reduce by half. Set aside.
Step 6
6. Form the rolls: on a floured surface, gently roll out the dough into a 12 by 18 inch square. Spread the sherry-butter-shallot-mushroom goo all over the giant dough square on your counter. Make sure to spread evenly all the way to the edges. Apply the dill and the cheese in a similar fashion; evenly distribute all the way to the corners of your dough sheet.
Step 7
7. Sprinkle salt and grind pepper all over the thing and preheat your oven to 350.
Step 8
8. As if it were a joint—that's right—carefully roll the rectangle into itself. Start at the bottom and curl inwards until you have a bulging log. Use a sharp knife and slice rolls off of the left side of the log. You can make them as thick as you'd like; we like ours about two inches thick.
Step 9
9. Gingerly place the rolls side by each on a greased (with butter) baking pan and cover them loosely with plastic.
Step 10
10. When thirty minutes—minimum!—has elapsed, slide the rolls into the oven and bake for fifteen to twenty minutes. When they start to smell amazing, check them. You're looking for a nice golden brown hue on the top of each one.
BEVERAGE
Bear Valley Black Flag Imperial Stout
SOUNDTRACK
Inca Ore
"The Birds in the 56 Bushes"
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Reviews (3)
Back to TopSorry, this just not a good dough recipe. I started making this before vetting the ingredients... In retrospect I should've known a sponge with very high ratio of additional yeast PLUS baking soda PLUS baking powder would yield a fast-rising, flavorless bread. Any benefit from the sponge method is ruined by the insanely fast 2nd and 3rd rises. They looked beautiful going into the oven but came out slightly deflated due to gluten structure getting destroyed by all that leavening. This does not have the light, moist crumb and pillowy texture of cinnamon rolls. Save yourself a ton of time and disappointment - Skip this recipe and use a good kolache dough instead!
Mkim309
Houston, tx
4/9/2015
This recipe could have been amazing except for TOO MUCH DILL! I like to follow recipes exactly but as I was sprinkling on the dill, I could tell it was overpowering even then. So I left off and brushed off about 25%. Still a little too much now that they are baked- I would cut the dill in half at least, and this is from someone who likes dill. Otherwise, through the dill, everything else is quite delicious! I wouldn't omit the cream sherry- adds amazing faint sweet undertones. And I can see how sauteed kale or spinach would help up the "oomph" of the filling. Also, mine wouldn't bake- had to do 400 for 20-25 min to get teh middle to bake but that might be how thick I rolled everything?
Anonymous
Fort Worth, Texas
1/22/2012
These savory rolls were AMAZING. I made the dough, roasted the mushrooms, and assembled the whole mess over the course of one day, then chilled them overnight. Popped them in the oven on New Years morning - no big deal - and sat happily as my friends dug in and were reduced to silence, punctuated by moans of pleasure. The nitty gritty: for the filling, I used onions instead of shallots, added chopped and sauteed kale, and omitted the dill and cream sherry. I also used a trio of cheeses (aged cheddar, parrano, and asiago). You know, as long as you follow the dough recipe carefully and add lots of cheese, you can probably put any vegetable-based filling in these and they would still be tops.
EmilyJK
Philadelphia, PA
1/5/2012
