Sourdough Pinwheels with Ham & Cheese

Sourdough pinwheels with ham and cheese - recipe feature image

Sourdough Pinwheels with Ham & Cheese

These simple yet delicious sourdough ham and cheese pinwheels will be a big hit with the whole family. Perfect for snacks on the go and even better in school lunchboxes!

Course Bread, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword Sourdough Recipes

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 25

Fermentation Time 12

Total Time 13 25

Servings Rolls

Calories 370kcal

Equipment

Stand Mixer
Rolling Pin
Cast Iron Pan

Ingredients

Dough

80 g Water
200 g Milk Warm (37C)
50 g Sugar Caster/Fine Sugar (see notes)
100 g Sourdough Starter Fed and bubbly (see notes for using discard)
500 g Bread Flour
10 g Salt
50 g Butter Room Temp

For the filling

50 g Butter Room Temp
200 g Mozarella or Cheddar Cheese - shredded
50 g Parmesan Cheese Shredded
150 g Ham Diced or Shredded (can also use salami)

For topping

50 g Butter melted

Instructions

To make the dough

Warm the milk to around 37C. Add the warm milk, water and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer and mix until the sugar has thoroughly dissolved.
You can just warm the milk in the microwave before putting into your stand mixer bowl. You just don't want cold milk in your dough as it will take forever to rise!
Now add your sourdough starter, salt and flour and use your stand mixer to knead into a rough dough. This shouldn't take too long (around 2 to 3 minutes). Leave the dough to rest in the stand mixer bowl for around 30 minutes to one hour.
Add the butter and knead into the dough until the dough is smooth and fairly elastic. You may need to increase the speed of your stand mixer to allow the butter to be incorporated (see notes below for tips on adding butter and or kneading by hand).
Transfer to the dough to a bowl and allow to bulk ferment. You want the dough to rise a little (around 30%) and feel soft to the touch. This needs to happen at room temp - not in the fridge. The time it takes will depend on the strength of your sourdough starter and the temperature of your kitchen.
Once the dough has finished rising, you will need to fill and shape ham and cheese pinwheels.

Rolling and Filling the Dough

Turn the dough out on to the counter. It shouldn't be sticky and be easy the handle. Do not use flour when rolling out the dough or it will make the pinwheels tough).
Gently roll the dough out into a rectangle. 60cm x 30cm is a good size to aim for. It doesn't have to be perfect, but the bigger you an get it, to more perfect swirls you will get.
Brush the butter over the rectangle of dough, leaving a 10cm gap on one of the long edges. You need to leave a gap so that dough will stick to itself when you roll it.
Now sprinkle over the mozarella, parmesan and diced ham so that it covers the area of dough spread with the butter.
Once the filling is spread, roll the dough into a log, starting on the opposite long edge to the gap you've left.
Roll the dough into a tight log, using the unfilled dough to seal the log. You can spray a little water on the part where the dough joins if you want to - but the dough should stick to itself without it.
Lay the log out with the seam underneath.
Cut the log into approximately 12 pieces (you can measure and divide by 12 if you want them to look even - or just go freehand if you're not too fussed). Using dental floss to cut them will help you keep their shape and give the pinwheels a flat surface.
Place the pinwheels onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can also make these in a cast iron skillet if you prefer, but they will join together.

Second Rise (Proofing)

Cover the baking tray with a plastic bag or tea towel and allow the pinwheels to get puffy. The dough is enriched, so it will take a little longer than normal (especially since we are dealing with sourdough).
Once the dough is puffy, you can bake them straight away - or see baking timeline above to extend the second rise and hold them in the fridge overnight.

Baking

Once the rolls are puffy, it's time to bake them. Preheat your oven to 180C/356F.
Before the sourdough pinwheels are placed into the oven, you need to brush them with melted butter.
Bake rolls for 20 minutes at 180C/356F.
Once they're finished baking, remove from the baking sheet and place them on a wire rack to cool.

Notes

Sugar - the sugar adds a nice texture to the dough but you can leave it out if you wish. It does not make the pinwheels sweet.

Using Sourdough Discard - if you want to use sourdough discard, you will need to add 7g of yeast to the ingredients. Add the yeast with the milk and sugar. Rising time will be much less if you are using discard and yeast - so you'll need to adjust your timeline for this. It will probably only take 1 to 2 hours for the first rise of the dough and around an hour for the second, but this will depend on the temperature in your home. If you are using discard and you want to prepare the day before and then bake next day I recommend shaping, covering with plastic and placing straight into the fridge. Take them out of the fridge and allow them to get to room temp before baking. They need to be light and puffy before baking.

Kneading Dough By Hand - I recommend using a stand mixer for this recipe. It makes the dough super easy to mix, however, if you'd prefer to knead by hand it will still work. Follow the recipe steps but knead the ingredients by hand. You will need to really work the dough until it's smooth and elastic.

Thermomix - You can easily use a thermomix to make this recipe. Utilise the dough/knead function to mix and knead the dough.

Adding Butter - butter is the last ingredient to add to the dough before it's left to bulk ferment. You may need to increase the speed of your mixer to get the butter to incorporate. It's best to add it in 10g increments. The dough may look greasy/slimy at first but persevere, it will incorporate if you give it enough time. The dough behaves much like brioche in this respect.

Nutrition