Baking ~ Multi Grain Bread Rolls Stuffed with Cottage Cheese and Herbs

I made these yummy bread rolls and used it in an article on healthy eating I did recently for a publication. Healthy bread ~ did you just do an eye roll? Well they’re made from the same multi grain atta (flour) that is used for regular rotis (Indian flat bread) and the stuffing was a mix of low fat cottage cheese, a little cheddar and a lot of vegetables and herbs. It was a good specimen to showcase how bread need not be treated like an enemy.

Every time I see a blanket accusation that carbs are bad, or bread is to be avoided, I have this urge to dropkick the person who preaches this like the gospel truth. Eating every food group is essential; just don’t overdo the sugars and the white stuff and the refined stuff. Shunning any food group for reasons other than medical and upon medical advice especially for fad diets is ridiculous. While I am not qualified to comment on nutrition, I do follow what my common sense tells me to do.

Onto the rolls now… I’d been seeing the sweet version of bread rolls in the form of cinnamon rolls or pumpkin rolls all over the blogosphere (still not sure if that is a word) around autumn / Halloween and was tempted to try them out. Around Christmas, my namesake sent me a package with some baking supplies as a present. It also had a few sachets of instant yeast. Anyone who is baking with yeast in India will tell you how difficult it is to find good yeast. The boxed stuff we get here needs to be proven and prayed over for it to rise well. But this was great yeast and I had to use it immediately. I made two versions, sweet and savoury that I will hopefully post quickly. The average time I take to post a recipe here from the time I make it is …. Well I’d be ashamed to post the number here. Let’s just say it takes between a few days to a few years… yes I have posted posts that have been in drafts for say a year or more too and a lot of stuff still sits there…

Here is the recipe for the rolls. I used a commercially available Multi-grain chapatti atta which is 75% whole wheat and 25% assorted grain flour. Feel free to use all whole wheat flour or replace half with white/refined flour or Maida.

Cottage Cheese and Herb Stuffed Multi-grain Bread Rolls (makes 10 rolls)

Multigrain flour (regular atta) – 2 1/2 cups

Dry active yeast – 1 teaspoon

Olive oil – 2 tablespoons

Warm milk – ½ cup

Salt – ½ teaspoon

Sugar – 1 teaspoon

Chilli Flakes – 1 teaspoon

For the filling

Shredded Cottage Cheese / paneer – 1 cup ( I used home made paneer, crumbled)

Grated cheddar cheese – ¼ cup

Vegetables of choice – 1 cup (I used a mix of finely chopped colored peppers, grated carrot, onion and finely chopped mushrooms)

Fresh herbs like mint, coriander, celery leaves or basil – ½ cup chopped fine

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder – ½ teaspoon

Mix all the ingredients for the filling together and set aside for use.

For the topping

Olive oil – 1 tablespoon

Garlic clove – 1 peeled and crushed

Sesame seeds – 2 tablespoons toasted

mix this together and set aside for use.

Method

In a bowl, mix the warm milk, sugar and yeast till the yeast is dissolved. Set aside for 20 minutes till it is frothy.

Mix the flour with salt and chilli flakes, add 1 tablespoon of the oil and the rest of the ingredients including the milk and mix well, adding water to make a soft almost sticky dough.

On a clean surface, dust some dry flour; knead the dough for about 5 minutes till it becomes elastic. Oil it with the remaining olive oil and put it in a bowl, cover with a clean cloth or a lid and leave to rise for at least an 1 hour, or until it doubles in volume.

After an hour, take the puffed up dough, punch it down gently and knead again for a minute and divide into two equal portions. On a floured surface with a rolling pin roll out into a ½ inch thick rectangle.

Mix all the ingredients for the filling together.

Spread half of the filling on the rolled out dough. Lift up two ends of the roll and roll it in gently to make a cylinder. Slice into 6 pieces, about an inch and a half wide and place it in a greased baking tray. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling.

Cover the rolls and let them rise for 45 minutes or until they double in volume. Brush with the olive oil glaze, sprinkle sesame seeds liberally on top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 220 degrees F for 30- 40 minutes till the tops are golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Note: Oven temperatures and hence baking times may vary. Do a skewer test to check for doneness.

These rolls are best eaten fresh and warm from the oven. But they do keep well for a couple of days in the fridge. Just gently reheat before you serve them.