Posh Vegemite and Cheese Scrolls

                 posh vegemite and cheese scrolls

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"Buying bread from a man in Brussels
He was six foot four and full of muscle
I said, "Do you speak my language?"
He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich"

 Land Down Under Colin Hay and Ron Strykert

We love vegemite in Australia, in all it's black, tarry and salty glory... so when a special edition 'Blend 17' was released this Christmas I not only bought a jar of it for myself, it became the stocking filler of the year. 

From Port Melbourne in my home state 'Blend 17' and the beloved yellow and red standard spread.

Vegemite even has it's own street 

I'm baking todays scrolls as snacks for the summer cricket season here, no not Jiminy but rather the game with bat, ball and stumps. 

 

It's these guys... plus others that look the same as these guys. 

The Guardian:  Steve Smith goes through for a run during a Tom Curran over on day four at the MCG. Photograph: Jason O'Brien/PA 

It's the fourth day of the fourth test today, it's pouring with rain and they have probably stopped play, maybe they have gone to bed. That's it for all my cricket knowledge except for the "being Australian" comes with compulsory (forced, against your will or at least mine) playing of said game at family get togethers. 

Time for the little bit posh (or at least the vegemite is) scrolls that pair perfectly with beer to eat during the cricket or anytime you are craving a salty hit.

I've used a little wholemeal *spelt for extra flavour and differentiate from the bakery bought varieties here. 

Posh Vegemite and Cheese Scrolls (more commonly known as cheesymite scrolls)

Ingredients 

 2 tsp instant yeast (7g sachet)

280ml of luke warm water (that's barely warm guys)

1 medium egg (room temperature and lightly beaten to break up yolk/white)

350g white bread flour

100g wholemeal spelt four

25g of caster sugar (superfine)

1/2 tsp salt

50g unsalted butter melted and cooled

Oil for covering rising dough

1 cup of *grated mature cheddar

optional extra 2/3 cup of grated cheese for the tops

1 and 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of *vegemite Blend 17 (some recipes on net use FIVE tablespoons of vegemite... much stronger Australians than I am!!) 

Method

preheat oven to 220cel or 200cel fan-forced

Line two baking trays with non stick baking paper if making separate buns or line one tray if making pull apart buns. 

Place the white bread flour, spelt flour, instant yeast and sugar in a bowl. 

Whisk lightly to combine and then add salt, whisk again and then attach bowl to stand mixer...I'm using an electric mixer with dough hook attached to do the work, you can make by hand if preferred. With the mixer on low add the warm water slowly, then the beaten egg, then add the melted butter. You are just mixing to the rough dough stage, it will look like this.

Cover the bowl loosely and leave for 10 minutes, after ten minutes turn the mixer back on low (never over 2 on KitcheAid) and continue to knead for 7 minutes on 2 or until you have smooth ball of dough. Remove bowl from mixer and lightly oil the ball of dough keeping it in the bowl. Cover and leave until risen by half. 

With oiled hands punch the dough down and bring together in the bowl before turning out on lightly floured surface.

Roll out to approx 42cm x 30 cm, spread on Vegemite leaving a the border free. The first thing I noticed about the Blend 17 Vegemite was that it is more spreadable, perfect for spreading on raw bread dough with hardly any pull.  I used 2 tablespoons of vegemite. Yep, it's not the most attractive stuff.

Sprinkle on one cup of cheese.

Roll up dough tightly to produce a large scroll, cut slices ... I cut mine fairly thin around 2cm but you can go up to three for larger scrolls.

Most people will put them close together on tray and they will join together for a pull apart tray of scrolls... you can do that if you prefer, I wanted smaller separated scrolls so put them on two trays well spaced apart. For final rise lightly cover and put aside somewhere warm to they are doubled in size. 

here a third through the final rise

Ok here comes the optional cheese choice ... you can take the scrolls out of the oven and 3-4 minutes before they have finished baking and add grated cheese. Cons: it covers the scroll pattern Pros: you can acutally taste the cheese, otherwise the vegemite has overwhelmed the flavour. 

Bake for around 15 minutes for two or one tray... check then if golden brown and cooked... if using two trays you may have to swap trays around for the last few minutes. 

Eat warm the same day. 

The 2 tsp's of yeast ensures a no fail light interior texture. 

Vegemite ownership was returned to Australia this year after Bega purchased the Vegemite brand from international giant Mondelez. Grated cheese in scrolls is a *strong vintage Bega cheddar. 

I couldn't fit all the vegemite recipes today so there will be sweet and a Japanese inspired savoury in months to come... but first another Australian odd thing coming up soon that is sweet with a sauce everyone can use. 

Happy Baking :)

*marmite, standard vegemite or other similar yeast extract can be used. 

*substitute 50% reduced fat vintage cheddar if preferred. 

*you can substitute plain wholemeal (whole wheat) flour for wholemeal spelt. 

Alsatian Onion Pizza

                                Mini Alsatian Onion Pizzas

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Winter is coming!! Or at least Autumn is here. The skies have darkened and the driveway is strewn with leaves, a perfect time to catch up with friends for Alasatian pizza and a glass of red before winter arrives! 

Alsatian pizza also known as tarte flambée, French pizza, or flammekueche depending which side of the border you're on. It's an onion topped flatbread/pizza, not common with caramelised onion but doubly tasty because of it. The Alsatian pizza often has bacon on top, sometimes with sour cream, fromage blanc or crème fraîche underneath the onion. A pizza known for it's wood oven charred edges, it's just as delicious made in a home oven. 

Using Rose's Alsatian pizza recipe from the excellent "The Bread Bible", Rose varies from the standard by using black olives instead of the usual bacon or lardons.  I doubled the dough batch today and swapped half the white flour for wholemeal spelt flour, plus I added a few tablespoons of red chia seeds. I also added a splash of brandy and a splosh of crème fraîche in the toppings.

Without doubling, Rose's recipe makes one 10 inch (approx 25 cm) pizza, or in my doubled case 10 mini pizzas. 

The dough starts with white flour, wholemeal spelt, red chia seeds, instant yeast and sugar are whisked together. Salt is then whisked in. 

A well is made in the centre of the flour and water added. I added a few teaspoons of water extra due to wholemeal spelt flour being included. 

Then mixed together until a rough shaggy dough forms. 

Off for a rise in an oiled container, overnight is best if you have time. 

I made the onion topping at this stage, it's like onion jam ... delicious, caramelised onions. 

Butter is melted in olive oil.

Onions thinly sliced.

The onions, sugar, salt and pepper are added to the pan. Cover the pan with a tightly fitted lid and then sweat the onions down for 45 minutes. 

They look like this, fluid has been released, the onions are cooked but have no colour yet. 

Heat is turned up, I added just a few teaspoons of brandy at this stage... it was reminding me so much of French onion soup I thought I'd try it. You could use a splash of your favourite balsamic. The onions are cooked until the liquid has evaporated and they are golden brown.

Crushed garlic and thyme are added at this stage, I used fresh lemon thyme because it's all I had. I cooled then chopped the onions to a suitable mini pizza topping consistency, covered and then popped in fridge ready for the next day. 

Next day the dough is brought back to room temperature and I weighed out ten 40 grams balls. There was a little bit left over for a tester pizza. They sat loosely covered to "relax" for fifteen minutes. 

I have mini pizza pans but I wanted a less formal friendly shape and not too thin for hand held individual pizzas. So I just stretched the balls out a bit, put them on a silpat topping a baking tray. Loosely covered in oiled plastic wrap they rise for 30 to 45 minutes. I took my prepared onions out of the fridge to return to room temperature at this stage too. 

Your oven is pre heated, your pizza stone or extra baking tray is in there too getting nice and hot. Slide your tray of risen pizza/s into the oven on top of pizza stone. Yes, that's right they don't have any topping yet but wait...

5 minutes later remove your tray from the oven.  

The partially baked bases are now topped, I spread on a little crème fraîche to add an acid component.

Then topped with the caramelised onions and black olives.

A little gruyere cheese completed the topping and it was back in the oven to bake for another 5 minutes until cheese is melted and crust golden. 

Base crust is evenly golden brown and super crisp. 

The interior is light, almost fluffy, with the crunch of chia, surrounded by the thin crisp crust for the "bite" you expect from a good pizza. 

I served the pizzas with baby fresh lemon thyme leaves.

Happy Baking :) 

Today has been one of the 'Rose's Bread Bible Bakers' bakes where a group of fabulous bakers get together and bake from the pages of 'The Bread Bible'.

The Bread Bible is available from Amazon and all good book stores.