Pesto Dinner Rolls

Pesto dinner rolls are super soft and an easy dinner roll recipe to make. They have a soft pesto dough, and are finished with pesto and parmesan cheese. These cheesy dinner rolls are a super delicious twist on a regular dinner roll recipe!

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Pesto Dinner Rolls

Hi hi! Just popping in to share this recipe for Pesto dinner rolls. These are a super fun twist on a regular dinner roll recipe. They have a super soft dough that is made with pesto instead of butter or oil. This gives the dinner rolls an amazing pesto flavour that will go along with anything. These soft dinner rolls are finished with a pesto oil mixture and loaded up with freshly grated parmesan cheese. They are great as a holiday dinner side, or they would also be amazing just as a side dish to a meal.

How to make Pesto Dinner rolls

These pesto dinner rolls are super easy to make. I like to do both rises at room temperature. However, you are welcome to do the first one overnight if you like (see faq for tips)

• Make the Tangzhong. This is made by cooking down a portion of the flour and milk in the recipe to form a paste. This is the base of the dough.
• Add the remaining ingredients. Everything all goes in the mixing bowl here, rather than developing the dough and adding in the fat at the end.
• Mix the dough. This pesto dinner roll dough has a fairly long mix time. This is important to help develop the dough and give strength.
• Leave to rise. Pop the dough into a warm spot and leave to rise until doubled in size and puffy. I like to oil both the bowl and the dough slightly to prevent it from drying out.
• Shape into rolls. Divide up the dough by weighing it and dividing the dough weight by the number of rolls you would like (in this case we are doing 12). Shape each into a ball, then leave to rest and shape again. This step helps make sure that the rolls are shaped nice and tightly.
• Leave for second proof. The dinner rolls then go through a second rising period, where they will get puffy and soft.
• Bake the dinner rolls. Brush the dinner rolls with milk (this helps browning), then bake until golden brown. You can also measure the internal temperature of the dinner rolls with a thermometer to double check the doneness. 190°f / 90°c is a good temperature to shoot for.
• Finish with pesto. The dinner rolls get brushed with a coating of pesto and olive oil just to really drive home the pesto flavour, then finished with parmesan cheese. The best.

The role of Tangzhong in bread dough

The Tangzhong method is an Asian Technique, and involves cooking part of the flour and water in a bread recipe to form a thick paste, or a roux. The process of making the Tangzhong gelatanises some of the starch in the flour. This means the flour is able to absorb a lot more water, and also holds onto it throughout the dough making process. This gives an incredibly soft bread which stays soft a lot longer than other bread does. Tangzhong (which is a Chinese word) is made by cooking the liquid and flour together, while the Yudane method (which is Japanese) involves adding boiling liquid to the flour and leaving it to set overnight. The benefit of using a roux means that the bread dough can stay 'lean' - so very little added fat etc but still stay extremely tender and soft.

This technique works particularly well for this dinner roll recipe - the lack of butter or lots of eggs in the dough really allows the pesto flavour to shine through, and also makes these a great option for making ahead as they stay fresh for much longer than traditional dinner rolls.

What is Bread Flour?

Bread flour is a high protein flour, often made from a harder variety of wheat than all purpose.. A leaner dough like this Pesto dinner roll dough relies on the higer protein to help with gluten development in the dough. I have tried this dough with an all-purpose flour before and it didn't go well, so it really needs the extra strength from the bread flour. Bread flour is often called 'high grade' or strong flour in other places.

If you are unable to get bread flour where you are, you can add in a little gluten flour with your dry ingredients. I haven't tried this myself but I know that others have in the past and it has worked for them!

Adding pesto to bread dough

These pesto dinner rolls use an adapted version of my super soft burger bun dough, but with pesto in them instead of the butter. Adding pesto gives an incredible flavour to the dough - it's a super easy switch, but makes such a massive difference flavour wise!

The pesto is added in with the rest of the ingredients into the dough. It provides the oil that the dough needs to develop the amazing texture that is has, but also gives it a beautiful green colour and basil flavour.

I used Filippo Berio's classic basil pesto for this recipe - it is an incredibly solid staple that I always keep on hand in my cupboard or fridge for adding to things. The classic basil pesto is amazing but this recipe would also be incredible made with their other flavours - particularly the grilled vegetable pesto or their sundried tomato pesto.

How to tell if your buns are properly proofed

It is important that when you make bread you go by how the dough is behaving and not just the time in the recipe. While the recipe is a good general guide, the starting temperature of your dough and also the weather and temperature of your room can affect how fast it rises.

The best way to tell that dough is ready to bake is to poke it gently with your finger. If it springs back straight away it is not yet ready. If your finger leaves a small indentation which springs back slightly, then you know that it is ready to bake. Remember to preheat your oven about 30 minutes before you think your dough will be ready in order to give it time to properly preheat. There is nothing worse than realising your buns are ready to bake and having a cold oven. If this does happen though just pop them into the fridge so that they don't over proof while you preheat your oven.

Signs of over proofed bread

Sometimes this happens, and it's a huge bummer. Either you leave them proofing too long, or you forget about your buns rising, and they over proof. This means the yeast produces all the gas it is capable of making while doing the second proof and it has nothing to give in the oven. It's sad but it happens.

If you have over proofed your buns, they will probably deflate while egg washing them. Then, over proofed dough doesn't do much in the oven as there is no gas to rise the bread. They should still taste fine they might just be a bit saggy.

This is why it is super important to go by how your dough is looking, rather than the rise time in the recipe. So many factors impact the rate at which your dough rises - the season, temperature of your kitchen, ingredient temperature etc. Go by how the dough is looking rather than the rise time in the recipe.

Tips for making Dinner Rolls ahead of time

These pesto dinner rolls are great to make ahead of time. There are a few ways that you can do this, but the way that I prefer is to fully bake them, but not add the pesto and oil mixture on the end. Instead, I leave them to cool, then refresh in a 350°f / 180°c oven for 5-10 minutes until warmed through. Then I add the pesto and oil mix and finish with the cheese and the salt.

Because this dough is super soft it refreshes super well. You want to add the olive oil and pesto mixture close to serving to avoid any sogginess. If you are only planning on eating half and saving the rest, only finish half and store the leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

Substituting active dry yeast for instant yeast

This recipe uses Instant yeast, which does not need to be activated. If you only have active dry that is just fine - the quantity is the same.

However, you will need to activate the active dry yeast in the liquid before proceeding with the recipe. To do this, make the Tangzhong then add the cold milk, and give it a mix to ensure the mixture is lukewarm.

Add the sugar and the yeast to the milk tangzhong mixture, then leave to sit for 10-15 minutes until foamy. This kick starts the active dry yeast. You can then proceed with the rest of the recipe.

FAQ for

• What tools and equipment do you use?
  You can see a full list of all the tools I use here
• Which pan did you use?
  I baked these in a 9x13" pan with high sides, which I find helps to keep them all snuggled in.
• Can I use other flavours of pesto?
  Yes! Filippo Berio has a bunch of other amazing flavours that would work great here. These would be so good made with their sundried tomato pesto too.
• Can the first rise be done overnight?
  Yes, if you like the first rise for these pesto dinner rolls can be done overnight. Just know that they will need significantly more rise time the next day after shaping. I like to leave the dough out on the counter for 30 minutes or so before putting it into the fridge. This helps to kick start the rising process.
• Will the hot Tangzhong not kill the yeast?
  The cold milk is there to bring the mixture down to lukewarm, so it is cool enough to add the yeast.
• Why did my rolls deflate slightly when they came out of the oven?
  The dough for these pesto dinner rolls is super soft, so sometimes when it comes out of the oven, it deflates slightly around the edges of the rolls. This is completely normal and just from the nature of the dough.
• Can this recipe by made by hand?
  I haven't tried making this specific dough by hand, but you can certainly try. It will be quite the workout as the dough is quite soft and sticky. If you can, use a mixer.
• Is the milk powder compulsary?
  No - if you don't have it, just leave it out.

For more recipes using Filippo Berio, check out:

• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Blueberry Crostata
• Cheesy Monkey Bread
• No Knead Focaccia

Recipe For Pesto Dinner Rolls

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