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Pesto Cheese Salt Bread

5 from 1 vote
This is my no mixer yummy pesto cheese salt bread recipe!!!! Ever since salt bread has gone viral, I have been dreaming to make it with a pesto cheese filling. And honestly it turned out way better than I could have imagined. Its cheesy, nutty, crunchy, buttery - I mean this is what dreams are made of.
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Prep Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 50 minutes
Servings: 6
Course: Snack
Cuisine: Japanese, Korean
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Ingredients (for 6 servings)
  • 200 g bread flour
  • 60 g cake flour
  • 12 g sugar
  • 5 g salt
  • 4 g instant yeast
  • 75 g warm water
  • 89 g cold milk
  • 13 g softened butter for dough
  • cold salted butter for filling. 10-15g per piece
  • mozzarella cheese 10-15g per piece
  • flaky salt
  • butter+cilantro dressing

Method
 

Oven Settings in Celsius
  1. Top Coil only oven like mine- 250 degrees initial bake for 5-7 minutes till lightly golden. Then 235 for 12-15 mins till golden brown.
    Standard ovens- 240 degrees initial, then drop to 200 degrees.
Method
  1. Mix flours + sugar + salt + yeast.
  2. Add warm water + cold milk. Here you are aiming to achieve a shaggy sticky dough. There should be no flour that is left dry. Don't over mix it; once all the flour is wet cover the dough and let it rest for 20 mins.
  3. After 20 mins, add softened butter and start kneading the dough again.
  4. Slap-and-fold the dough continuously. We want it to be smooth and pass the window pane test. The window pane test is when your dough can stretch out into a translucent thin film without breaking. Keep kneading the dough till you reach this level; by hand it should take you 20-30 mins. With a mixer, you may reach this point within 15 mins at medium speed.
  5. After the dough is perfect, we will let it rest again for 1 hour.
  6. If your kitchen is cold like mine, place a pot with boiling water on the bottom oven rack and place the dough covered on middle rack. 60 min until 1.5-2x bigger.
  7. After 1 hour, the dough should be doubled in size. De-gas the dough by punching it in. This part is so satisfying.
  8. Smoothen dough out and divide it into 6 equal pieces (around 70g).
  9. Shape each piece into a tear drop shape. Then elongate it into almost a carrot shape. Now comes the key step: hold your rolling pin horizontally over only the wide top end and roll just that top half into an upside-down triangle shape, about 15 inches total length with the triangle base 4 inches wide at the top-the bottom stays as a 2-inch wide rectangle.
  10. Spread 1 spoon of pesto thinly across this flattened triangle surface, add 1 piece of butter at the top and the mozzarella cheese next to it. Starting from the top, roll tightly toward the point like making a sushi roll, pinch the seam closed at the end, but leave small gaps at both ends so butter can escape during baking.
  11. Place tail end side down on your parchment-lined metal pan, spacing rolls 4-5cm apart. Repeat for all 6 rolls.
  12. Now let them rest again for 15-20 minutes. Add the hot water pot in the oven below the rolls again.
  13. After 20 mins, start preheating your oven to 250 degree celsius. (this is for my small, top coil heat only oven. For standard oven, heat it to 240 degrees)
  14. Sprinkle flaky salt on your rolls and spray them generously with water. They should be glistening at this point. This water will create steam for them to crispen perfectly.
  15. Place pan in the middle rack at 250 degrees for 5-7 minutes till it becomes lightly golden.
  16. After this, drop the tempetaure to 235 degrees for 12-15 minutes till perfectly golden brown.
  17. For standard ovens: Preheat 240°C → 5-7 mins → drop 200°C → 12 mins.
  18. Take it out of oven when its perfectly golden brown. Brush some cilantro butter on it and enjoy.

Notes