In Our Kitchen: Cheese & Bacon Scrolls
There are some recipes that call for a special trip to the shops. This isn't really one of them.
Our Cheese & Bacon Scrolls are made with the kind of ingredients we generally have in the pantry or fridge already. Nothing particularly fancy, and nothing you need to hunt down at a specialty store.
We have our favourites, of course, but good baking doesn't always come down to having the fanciest ingredients. Knowing how they work and when the details matter makes far more difference.
The recipe card will take you through the bake from start to finish. Here, we're going a
little further. These are the ingredients we use in our kitchen, a closer look at some of the techniques, and a few things we've learned from making this recipe again and again.
Let's Talk Flour
For these scrolls, we prefer baker's or bread flour. We generally use either Defiance or Laucke. Both are regulars in our pantry and give us consistently good results. If one happens to be on sale when we're stocking up, even better.
Baker's flour has a higher protein content than plain flour, which allows it to develop a stronger gluten structure. For a dough that's about to be rolled, loaded with bacon and cheese, sliced and expected to rise beautifully, that extra strength comes in handy.
It helps the dough hold its shape, gives the yeast a strong gluten network to work with and makes the dough more elastic when it's time to roll. The result is a scroll that's soft and fluffy, with just enough of that bakery style chew.
This recipe was developed and tested using baker's flour, so that's what you'll find listed on the recipe card.
Plain flour can be used if that's what you have in the pantry. The finished scrolls may be a little softer with slightly less structure and chew, but they'll still be very good.
[VIDEO: What properly kneaded dough should look and feel like]
A Note on Butter
We've baked with plenty of different butters over the years and, despite the many opinions you'll find on the subject, we don't think you need to overcomplicate this one.
More recently, when we're only doing a small batch of baking, we've been reaching for the 250g blocks of Westgold rather than buying the larger 500g blocks.
Use butter you enjoy baking with.
One thing we don't swap in this recipe is butter for margarine. The flavour and texture that butter brings to the dough is worth keeping.
The Yeast
The premeasured Tandaco instant yeast sachets are a regular in our pantry. Each sachet contains 7g, so there's no measuring involved. Open, pour, done.
We also keep McKenzie's Baker's Yeast on hand and use it regularly, depending on what we're making.
This recipe uses instant yeast, which means it can be added directly to the mixing bowl. Out of habit, we place the yeast and salt on opposite sides of the bowl when adding the dry ingredients. Once the milk, egg and butter go in, everything comes together.
And the Eggs
The standard in our kitchen is a 700g carton of cage free eggs. It's what we use for our everyday baking and throughout our recipe testing.
We also love picking up eggs from local farms when we visit the farmers' market.
Do you need farmers' market eggs to make an excellent Cheese & Bacon Scroll? No.
Is buying them an excellent excuse for a Saturday morning outing and a cheeky coffee? Absolutely.
Making the Scrolls
We measure out all our ingredients before starting any recipe. It's a simple habit, but it makes the whole process easier and avoids discovering halfway through mixing that someone used the last of the milk.
Once everything is measured, this dough is essentially an all in one bowl affair.
Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl, keeping the yeast and salt on opposite sides as we do in our kitchen. Add the egg, melted butter and milk, and you're ready to mix.
Mixing & Kneading
We're using a KitchenAid stand mixer with the dough hook for this recipe. We start at Speed 1 for around two minutes to bring everything together, then increase to Speed 2 and knead for six to eight minutes.
If you're using a different stand mixer, follow the manufacturer's guidance for kneading bread dough with your machine.
As the gluten develops, you'll see the dough change. It becomes smoother and more elastic and, towards the end of kneading, will often gather itself around the dough hook.
It will probably feel quite warm, too. That's normal.
Rather than relying solely on the clock, look at the dough. It should feel smooth, elastic and strong.
[VIDEO: From shaggy dough to fully kneaded dough]
Getting That Rectangle
After making this recipe more than a few times, we've found that proofing the dough in a rectangular container gives you a handy little head start when it's time to roll.
A regular bowl works perfectly well too. We've certainly used one plenty of times.
And, for full disclosure, we're not always producing mathematically perfect 30 × 40cm rectangles over here either. Sometimes they're a little more... informal.
If the dough starts springing back while you're rolling, give it a rest. Cover it and walk away for 10 minutes. The gluten will relax, and your second attempt will be considerably less argumentative.
The Cross Cut Method
If your dough has proofed in a round bowl, this is one of our favourite tricks for getting a head start on a rectangle.
Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured work surface and gently shape it into a ball.
Using a sharp knife or dough scraper, cut a deep cross (+) into the centre, creating four sections. Leave the dough connected at the base.
Open each section outwards, almost like unfolding four flaps. Instead of a round ball, you now have the beginnings of a square.
From here, lightly flour your rolling pin if needed and work from the centre outwards, alternating between each side. Gently pull and straighten the corners with your hands as you go until you reach approximately 30 × 40cm.
It doesn't need to be perfect. Just aim for an even thickness and a shape that's easy to roll.
[VIDEO: The cross cut method, from round dough to rectangle]
Bacon & Cheese: Measure With Love
Now for the fun part.
The recipe card gives you the quantities. In our kitchen, this is one area where we've been known to adopt a measure with love approach.
We prefer a classic bakery style Cheese & Bacon Scroll, so we use Primo bacon pieces and add them uncooked before the scrolls go into the oven. The bacon cooks along with the dough as the scrolls bake.
If crispy bacon is more your thing, brown it first and allow it to cool before adding it to the dough.
Scatter the bacon and cheese evenly over the rolled dough, taking it almost to the edges.
Rather than rolling the dough into one long log and slicing it afterwards, we cut our strips first.
Using a pizza cutter, slice the filled dough into even strips. Working with one strip at a time, roll it up to form an individual scroll, then place it into your prepared baking tray.
We find this method easier than slicing through a fully rolled log. You can see exactly how wide each scroll will be, there's less squashing and dragging through the filling, and you can adjust each one as you go.
Will they all be exactly the same size? Probably not.
One scroll ends up considerably more generously filled than its neighbours? Someone's getting the good one.
And that pizza cutter in this month's Untamed Wonder pack?
It's there for a reason.
It's the same style we use in our own kitchen, and one we've tested and loved for this recipe. Use it to cut your scrolls this month, then keep it close. We suspect this won't be the last time it comes in handy.
[VIDEO: Adding the bacon and cheese, cutting the filled dough into strips using this month's pizza cutter, then rolling each strip into an individual scroll]
The Final Proof
Once the scrolls are shaped, it's time for their final proof.
This is one of those moments where watching the dough is far more useful than watching the clock.
You're looking for scrolls that are visibly fuller, softer and puffy. In our kitchen, that often takes around 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the temperature of the room.
During winter, we use the microwave as a makeshift proofing spot. Turned off, obviously. It's enclosed, free from drafts and surprisingly handy.
[VIDEO: Before and after the final proof]
Straight From the Oven
These are very good warm.
We'd love to tell you that every batch is allowed to cool properly before anyone gets near them.
That would not be true.
Give them long enough that the cheese is no longer a genuine health and safety concern, then proceed accordingly.
Until next month,
The Untamed Wonder Co. Kitchen
Recipes from our kitchen to yours.
Any brands mentioned are simply products we use in our own kitchen. This content is not sponsored.