Paneer and Onion Rolls

It feels good to bake bread after a hiatus. In the past months, great bread started to sell at my neighborhood bakeries so I haven't had an incentive to bake. But the aroma circulating in the house reminds me why it's a bad idea to buy bread. No matter how good the product, it won't make your living room smell this nice.

And aren't I amazed at how brave I've become. When I started baking, I was scared of yeast. I'd take recipes with me to the kitchen, and stick to them faithfully, not changing even a gram of an ingredient. For this one, I merely took Pioneer Woman's cinnamon roll as a starting point and fearlessly converted it to a savory version.

To make the dough, put 1/2 cup milk and a tbsp of vegetable oil in a large microwave safe bowl. Heat until it's a little warmer than lukewarm. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp yeast. Wait 5 minutes, then add a cup of flour to the bowl. Stir together, then cover and let rise for an hour.

After an hour, add 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt and half tsp of baking soda. Mix everything well, then pop the dough in the fridge for an hour.

In the meantime, make the filling. Crumble 100 grams of paneer. Add a small red onion, chopped finely, a handful of mint leaves, salt, pepper and 1/2 tsp ajwain.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour. Take your dough out of the fridge and stretch to form a rectangle. Then roll the dough as thin as you can, maintaining a rectangular shape. Spread the filling over the dough and roll it up into a log. Cut the log into one inch rolls - although you can see I made mine a bit larger. Brush the top with milk and scatter some mixed seeds.

Let the rolls sit for 20 to 30 minutes to rise, then bake at 220C until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.