Cheddar Oregano Spelt Spiral Rolls

This month’s 12 loaves challenge was to make a bread incorporating cheese. Feeling the pressure (self-induced) to use up as many of the herbs in my garden before they depart for the year, I keep stuffing them into any cooked or baked dish I can. Last Sunday evening at the Pennsylvania house I grabbed a handful of fresh oregano before we drove back to NYC with plans to use it somehow this week in a baked good.

Savory spiral rolls came to mind because of the flexibility of creating fillings. I spotted some leftover shredded cheddar from a bout of Nachos making and these were born shortly after.

In case you haven’t heard of the 12 Loaves Challenge it’s spearheaded by another L-O-R-A, The Cake Duchess.  Once a month she and her 12 Loaves posse Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives and Jamie from Life’s a Feast announce a challenge ingredient to bake a bread with.

If you want to bake along the rules are found here.

When first sampled right out of the oven, I thought the rolls tasted a bit too much like pizza bread. But later, after they had cooled and settled a bit, they took on a flavor of their own.

I brought most of them right over to work where they were devoured within minutes. I work with mostly Italians (not Italian Americans) and they all interesting enough thought they tasted like focaccia.

Pizza bread, focaccia or whatever, they were amazing. This recipe is a keeper and I can’t wait to try it with different cheese, herb combinations.

(Adapted from Savory Spiral Stuffed Rolls from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe)

 

For the dough:

I used Mel’s recipe found here substituting 2 cups of spelt flour for the white flour.

For the filling:

Ingredients:
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1/3 cup fresh chopped oregano
1+1/2 -2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese.

I followed Mel’s directions here to the letter and they came out perfect.