In my last post, I shared my Potato Leek Soup, as served at our campout at Villanueva State Park. Today, I’m going to share the recipe for the Spinach Pesto Pinwheel Rolls I served with the soup. I adapted two different recipes for the rolls. I used a recipe from foodgeeks.com for Herbed Whole Wheat Pinwheels for the dough, substituting honey for the sugar and brown sugar. (I’m pretty sure this caused the dough to be more liquid, since I used more flour than the original recipe called for.) Instead of their herbed filling, I used this spinach pesto recipe from yumsugar.com for the filling, adding some basil for additional flavor.
I made the rolls up until the “roll up” a couple of days ahead, wrapped up the roll, and kept it in the refrigerator (and then the cooler). This was not an optimal method. Part of the dough rose in the refrigerator, part did not. So, the rolls turned out uneven in size. This was not a huge deal baking in the Dutch oven on a campout.
- 1 package active dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm (105-115 degrees) water
- ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon honey, divided
- 1⅓ cup warm (105-115 degrees) milk
- ¼ cup butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 3 cups white flour
- 2½ cups packed spinach leaves
- large handful fresh basil leaves
- ⅓ cup pine nuts, toasted
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
- ¼ cup olive oil
- fresh ground pepper to taste
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1 tablespoon hone, let stand for 5 minutes. Add milk, remaining honey, butter, salt, and whole wheat flour. Gradually add white flour, until stiff dough forms.
- Kneed dough for 10 minutes, either on a board or by mixer, until dough is smooth and satiny. Place dough in an oiled bowl, roll to coat dough in oil. Cover and let rise until doubled.
- While the dough is rising, prepare the pesto. Place spinach, basil, nuts, lemon juice and peel in food processor, pulse until well mixed. Turn processor to continuous low speed, slowly add oil until mixture is creamy. Stir in pepper and cheese.
- Once dough has risen, punch it down. Roll out into a rectangle, approximately 12 X 16 inches. Spread pesto evenly over the dough. Roll lengthwise in jellyroll fashion. (This is point at which I stopped and held the dough in the refrigerator for later use.)
- Slice the dough crosswise into 1 inch slices. Arrange slices in Dutch oven. Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Bake in Dutch oven for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown. (Or place on greased baking sheet and bake in oven at 375 degrees.)
Have you ever baked in your Dutch oven? What kinds of foods to you eat while camping?
Happy eating!
Ruth