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Seriously, who doesn’t love garlic bread? Now let me ask you this, who wouldn’t love a savory yeast bread dinner roll made with pesto and Parmesan cheese? That’s what I thought. I modified my cinnamon roll recipe into a savory version filled with garlic, basil, cheesy goodness. All kidding aside, we really love these rolls. There is something special about fresh baked bread right out of the oven but when you add pesto swirled inside a roll, it takes it up several notches. The aroma of pesto and fresh bread is heavenly. Can life get any better? Our family loves these rolls and I know yours will too. Enjoy! [/donotprint]
Savory Pesto Rolls
Ingredients
1/2 cup warm water (115 degrees F)
1/2 cup warm milk (115 degrees F)
1 egg (room temperature), slightly beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4-5 cups bread flour
1 (.25 ounce) package (2 1/4 tsp) instant dry yeast
1/2 cup pesto (Savory Sweet Life pesto recipe)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
*Dough can be kneaded by hand, bread machine, or KitchenAid Mixer using the dough hook. However, directions below are written for a KitchenAid.
*You can also use store bought frozen dinner roll dough and pesto to save time!
Directions:
Place water, milk, egg, melted butter, sugar, and salt in a K.A mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of flour on top of all the liquid mixture sprinkling yeast on top. Using the dough hook, knead bread mixture on speed 3 until dough is smooth and elastic adding additional flour as needed (approx. 5-7 min.). Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a wet towel. Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour in a warm area.
*Hint: I typically preheat my oven to 200 degrees while dough is kneading and turn the oven off when kneading is complete. From there, I stick my covered bowl into the oven and leave the oven door cracked open to allow the dough to rise.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle slightly larger than a 9×13 pan (rectangle). Spread surface evenly with pesto and sprinkle shredded Parmesan cheese on top. Beginning with the long side, roll dough pinching the seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal slices and place them in a greased muffin tin, cut side up. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from muffin cups and serve warm. Enjoy!
What a brilliant little rolls! Pesto is the perfect filler, but I’ll bet this recipe would lend itself to so many variations.
Oh dear, I worry how many of these I could devour! They look sensational.
Holy Crow! I just made pesto yesterday with no plan at all.
These look amazing.
Thank you!
I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but they vaguely resemble (in appearance) the “so-bad-but-so-good” ones that they have at Peet’s coffee. I love those things so hard. Yours are actually good quality in addition to being delicious though, so I might say they win!! You rule the school, Alice.
Love these! They look like the perfect thing for a dinner party.
Just stumbled on your blog and what a yummy recipe to start my reading off with!! You got me thinking… I have some sundried tomato pesto…hmmmm…
Kim @ http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com
These look so great… I need to make some ASAP!
Mouth-watering Alice! I will have to bookmark this for my summer baking once the basil is in full swing in the backyard.
Your rolls look amazing! I am going to have to try them. I’m sure my family will certainly snarf them up.
mind packing up a couple (dozen) of these and shipping them to me? cause i need some right now!
AMAZING!! This is beyond creative. I have never seen anything like this and feel like I MUST have them! 🙂
Blessings-
Amanda
I love this idea, and I love pesto! Great recipe and photos, Alice! 🙂
I never would have thought to put pesto in cinnamon rolls but after looking at yours, it seems like it should have always been an option. I wonder what other great ingredients, besides cinnamon and such, could be placed in a similar roll. Oh the possibilities.
YUM! Thanks for the recipe–they look so beautiful! I also want to thank you for always posting pictures of your PROCESS of cooking. It’s so helpful and also your photos are just GORGEOUS! Thanks.
These look divine and am thinking they would be good with a sundried tomato pesto as well!!
This looks like the perfect accompaniment for a dinner salad… they look so tasty, bet they smell unreal out of the oven!
Be still me beating heart…. I love cinnamon rolls, and I love pesto, the basil, the parmesan cheese, simply divine, I will have to try these because I know I will love them too! Fantastic recipe!
I must make these! I’m a pesto addict and these look ridiculously good. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I did something similar a while back – only I used pastry dough (pre-made) and cut them thin, more like cracker canapes. These rolls would stand up well to a beef roast.
This is such a creative idea. They look so tasty. My favorite pesto is made with arugula, I bet it would be good too!
Alice, These look wonderful! What a fabulous idea!
if i’m gonna go to this much trouble, cinnamon rolls better be the end result. that said, this is a wonderful savory alternative…if someone else’ll make ’em for me. 🙂
This is very fairly tasty with some modifications. I have made this several times, each time it gets better and better, I have made a few changes… I usually do spinack, mushrom, ricotta cheese, but this looks fabulous!!
Best Regards,
I just had some pesto today. Well, actually it was a semi pesto because I didn’t have any pine nuts on hand when I started making it.
I could totally eat this right up. It’s actually perfect appetizers.
Yummy! And after our weekend workshop, my favorite shot of yours is the one of the two rolls.
Side note: it was so fun to finally meet you! xo