How to Bake Olive Stuffed Rolls

Makes: 20 rolls

Preparation time: 30 mins + 2 hours (inactive)

Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients needed to make Olive Stuffed Rolls:

• ¾ cup olive paste
• 3 ¾ cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• ¼ tsp active dry yeast
• 1¼ cup + 1 tbsp warm water
• 5 tbsp olive oil, plus more for greasing
• ½ cup sponge, torn into smaller pieces
• 2 ½ tsp salt

Cooking instructions for Olive Stuffed Rolls:

• Dissolve yeast in ¼ cup of water and set aside for about 10 minutes or until they turn froth.
• Pour it into a bowl and drizzle 2 tbsp of olive oil into it, along with the sponge pieces.
• Process them for a couple of minutes with the paddle attachment at low speed until well combined.
• Fold in the flour gradually, along with rest of the water and continue to beat the mixer for another minute.
• Replace the paddle attachment with dough hook and continue to process the mixture at moderately low speed, until they form soft and smooth dough; this should take about 5-6 minutes.
• Place the dough a lightly dusted working counter and knead it for several minutes or until it becomes more flexible.
• Transfer it to a pre-greased bowl and roll it along the sides to grease it; wrap it up in a cling film and set aside for a couple of hours in a warm place until they double in size.
• Grease two 9’’ x 5’’ loaf tins with a lashing of olive oil and pour another tbsp of it into each tin.
• Return the dough to the floured working counter and pinch out a 2 oz portion of the dough.
• Flatten it out into a 4’’ x 5’’ rectangle and smother its surface with a tsp of the olive paste.
• Roll it out tightly into a cylinder and press the open edges to seal.
• Place it in one of the prepared tins, with the seam side facing down and make rest of the rolls in a similar fashion.
• Arrange these rolls, side by side in a single layer, across the base of the pans and cover them loosely with a plastic sheet; set aside again for an hour to let them rise.
• Meanwhile, warm up your oven to 450 degrees F with an empty baking dish inside.
• Make a halfway slit across each roll so that the olive filling peeps out and place the tins on the preheated baking dish.
• Fill the dish with a couple of cups of hot water and bake in the oven for half an hour or until they turn golden brown.
• Leave the rolls on a wire rack, outside the oven, to cool.
• Paint the surface of each bun with rest of the olive oil and set it aside again to cool completely.
• Serve.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons