Bread buns with grilled vegetables and aromatic herbs

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I haven't been blogging or indeed cooking much since last month's entry for Bread Baking Day #41 but I find myself back here for yet another bread recipe, this time for BBD#42, the theme of which is "Let's bake bread for a picnic". I have chosen to bake tasty individual buns. I have incorporated parmesan cheese and lots of aromatic herbs in the dough and filled the bun with red pepper paste, bacon (optional) and grilled vegetables.

Bread buns with grilled vegetables and aromatic herbs

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 350 g white bread flour
• 200 ml milk, lukewarm
• 50 g parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated
• 7 g instant yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp mixed aromatic herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano), finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds

For the filling:

• 2-3 tbsp red pepper paste (subsitutions: sundried tomato paste, pesto rosso)
• red peppers, onion, courgettes, cut in 1 cm pieces and grilled
• bacon or pancetta, grilled (optional)
• olive oil to drizzle
• salt, black pepper

Preparation:

In a large salad bowl, mix together the flour, parmigiano reggiano, salt, fennel seeds and aromatic herbs. Add the olive oil, sugar, yeast and milk. Knead for about 10 minutes, shape in a bowl, transfer to a lightly oiled container, cover with a damp towel and leave to ferment for 1h30 to 2h until the dough has more than doubled in size.

Meanwhile, cut the vegetables in 1 cm portions. Mix with 1 tsp olive oil then grill over high heat until they take on some colour. Remove from the griddle pan and reserve. Now grill the bacon or pancetta for about one minute on each side. Remove from the pan and transfer to kitchen paper. Reserve and let cool.

Gently flatten the dough to a 30x30 cm square. Spread with red pepper paste then add the grilled ingredients. Drizzle with a little olive oil, coarse sea salt and black pepper. Roll up the dough.

Cut thick (about 4 cm wide) slices and lay them down sideways (so that the filling is visible) on an oven rack lined with parchment paper. Cover with a towel and leave to rise 40 to 50 or until the buns have swelled up.

Pre-heat the over to 200°C.

Bake the buns and 200°C for about 25 minutes. Leave to cool on a rack. Delicious whether eaten warm cold (great for a picnic, thus).

Submitted to Bread Baking Day #42.

Bread buns with grilled vegetables and aromatic herbs