Soft and delicious, these gorgeous rolls look great and taste great. They almost sing, “come on, grab and eat me” and they don’t disappoint.

Makes: 10 – 12 rolls

Time: Initial hands on: 30 – 35 min. First prove: 90 – 120 min, depending on room temperature. Filling and shaping: 15 – 20 min. Second prove: 30 – 40 min. Baking: 20 – 25 min.

Level: Reasonably easy

Need: A 25cm/10” round baking tin with high sides, ideally springform

Ingredients

500g/16oz strong white flour
7g instant yeast
10g/¼oz fine salt
15g/½oz sugar
25ml/1oz olive oil
25g/1oz unsalted butter, melted
275ml/9½fl oz – 300ml/10fl oz tepid water
60g/2oz chorizo, finely chopped
100g/3½oz hard cheese (such as Cheddar or Red Leicester), grated
About 2 Tbsn chives, finely chopped or snipped with scissors
½ egg, beaten, for glazing

Preparation

Line the base and sides of the tin with baking parchment.
Grate the cheese and set aside 40g/1¼oz for topping the rolls
Snip the chives and dice the chorizo
Mix together 60g/2oz grated cheese, the chopped chives and all the chorizo

Method

1. Put the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a bowl and mix well. Gently pour in the water, the oil and the melted butter. Mix into a dough.

2. Knead in a stand mixer bowl with a dough hook for 7 – 9 minutes, or by hand on a floured surface for 12 – 15 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

3. Return to the bowl, cover with a damp cloth or cling film or a shower cap and leave to prove, somewhere warm, for 1½ –2 hours, until doubled in size.

4. Knock back the risen dough and flatten it out on a lightly floured surface, either by hand or with a floured rolling pin. Scatter over a third of the cheese, chive and chorizo mixture and fold the dough over itself to work in the filling. Repeat twice until everything is well mixed in.

5. Divide into 10–12 pieces. (You can guess this or weigh the whole dough then divide that by the amount you intend making and weigh each ball.)

6. Knead and shape into balls, trying to avoid having any chorizo sticking out of the top surface as it’s likely to burn. Place them evenly in the round tin or a small roasting tin, with a little gap between each one if possible. Cover again and leave to rise for another 20–40 minutes. Towards the end of this time, turn on the oven to reach 220C / fan 200C / 425F / Gas 7.

7. Brush the rolls lightly with the egg glaze. Cover the tin with a piece of baking foil (If it sits close to the rolls then lightly oil the underneath surface.) Bake in the oven for 15 – 16 minutes,

8. Remove from the oven, take off the foil and sprinkle over the reserved grated cheese. Put it all back in the oven for about 5 – 10 minutes. If the tops appear to be darkening too much put the foil lid back on.

9. Once golden brown, remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 5 minutes then remove the sides and base and slide the baked bread onto a wire rack to cool.

This recipe may seem a bit long and complicated, but I promise that the result is well worth the time and effort. Also, it may not be as long as it seems because I do tend to be a bit waffly and pedantic.

Anyway, I hope you do have a go and really enjoy this lovely tear and share. If you want to see more of my bread recipes click this link.