Stilton and walnut bread rolls

Tastes change over time. My mother tells me I gobbled up liver casserole and tongue sandwiches as a child with aplomb. They are now my least favourite foods. My love of blue cheese has grown from a vehement dislike as a child to a near addiction these days. If it isn’t your thing try white Stilton instead.

INGREDIENTS

300ml water

500g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting

7g fast action dried yeast

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon caster sugar

30ml walnut or olive oil, plus extra for greasing

150g stilton, crumbled

150g walnuts, finely chopped

1 egg

pinch salt

METHOD

Boil 100 ml of the water in a small pan, then mix with 200 ml of cold water from the tap. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, oil and all the water and give it a good stir with a large spoon. Oil your work surface and hands, then tip the shaggy dough out onto the work surface and start kneading.

Everyone kneads differently. Some pick the dough up and slap it back onto the table. Others stretch it from the centre up to the 2nd hand on a clock, pulling it back down to the centre, turning it 90 degrees and repeating. Others use the dough hook on a stand mixer. Whatever method you use knead it until smooth and elastic looking. To test if it is ready, take a piece the size of a plum and stretch it between your two thumbs and two index fingers until you can almost see though it. If it stretches easily then the gluten has developed; if it breaks then keep kneading.

Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with cling film and leave to prove. This will depend on the warmth of the room – the hotter the room the quicker it will be. When the dough has doubled and a finger pushed to the depth of about 2 cm leaves a mark but pops back a little, it’s ready to knock back. Push the dough down and flip it over, then add the Stilton and walnuts, folding it again and again until evenly distributed.

Sprinkle flour onto a large baking tray. Roll the dough out on an oiled surface into a thick sausage shape. Use a serrated knife to cut the dough into eight equal pieces. Take each piece and flatten it in your palm. Then take the edges of the dough and fold into the centre until you have a smaller sphere of dough. Turn it over and put the folded, slightly pinched looking end down on the baking tray, spacing them 3 cm apart. Sprinkle flour over the top and cover loosely with cling film to prove again.

Preheat the oven to 220°C. When the rolls have doubled, about 30 minutes in a hot kitchen and 2 hours in a cold one, beat together the egg and salt and brush over the rolls. Cut a 1 cm-deep slash into the tops using a sharp serrated knife.

Bake for 10–15 minutes until the rolls are well browned and can easily be lifted from the tray albeit in a grid of baked together rolls. They should sound hollow when you tap them underneath. Place on a wire rack to cool.

#normalmum #stilton #walnut #breadrolls #bluecheese