February's Fresh From the Oven Challenge - Bread for Lunches

Two loaves and two different types of rolls baked for my family's lunches this week

When I was pondering a suitable challenge to set for Fresh from the Oven this month I was sat having lunch with a friend and she suggested why not make it "Lunch", so I have.  My challenge to you this month is to bake and blog your favourite bread, rolls, bagels, swirls, pizza, calzone or other yeasted bake that you have - or would like to have - for lunch.  

It could be a bake suitable for a leisurely lunch with friends, a Valentine's lunch for your lover, packed lunches to take to work and/or school, or a special occasion lunch, the choice is yours!

Versatile Bread Swirls

415g self-raising white or wholemeal flour

1 Tblsp dried yeast (1 x 7g sachet)

2 Tblsp caster sugar

50g butter

125ml milk, warmed

125ml buttermilk

Savoury Fillings:

Red Pepper and Goats Cheese

150g goats cheese

1 roasted pepper, diced

fresh orgegano

Sprinkle the filling ingredients over the rolled out dough.

Cheese and Vegemite

¾ cup grated cheese

2 or 3 Tblsp Marmite or Vegemite

Spread the marmite or vegemite over the rolled out dough then sprinkle the cheese over the top.

Sweet Fillings:

Spiced Apple

2 medium eating apples cored, peeled and finely chopped

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ cup brown sugar

Mix ingredients in a bowl and scatter over the rolled out swirl dough.

Apple and Berry

100g fresh berries or frozen berries that have been slightly thawed

1 apple peeled, cored and diced

150g mascarpone

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tblsp icing sugar

Mix the mascarpone, vanilla and icing sugar together and spread over the rolled out dough.  Sprinkle the apple and berries over the top.

To make the dough:

Put the flour, sugar and yeast into a large bowl.  Stir in the salt, sugar, yeast,  herbs and oil. Add the warm water and mix everything together well to form a soft dough.

Put the flour, sugar and yeast in a bowl and stir to combine before making a well in the centre.

Gently heat the milk, buttermilk and butter in the microwave until lukewarm, and the butter has melted.  Add to the dry ingredients.

Mix everything together well to form a soft dough.   Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for up to 10 minutes until a smooth and elastic dough has formed.  Otherwise do what I do and knead it in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 5- 7 minutes.

Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with clingfilm or a clean shower cap and sit it in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough doubles in size.

Make sure you flour your bench well then roll out the dough into a large rectangle about 30cm x 20cm.  Put your desired filling on to the dough, leaving a 2cm border around the outside.

Roll the dough up from the longest side, like a Swiss Roll, and slightly wet the top 2cm to help seal the dough swirl.

Cut the dough swirl into 3cm slices and put 2cm on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper.  Leave to prove for about 30 minutes whilst you preheat your oven to 200C/180C Fan.

Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Let cool slightly before separating and serving.

These swirls are suitable for freezing for up to a month and are best individually wrapped before freezing as this makes it much easier to pop them into lunchboxes.

Happy baking everyone!  I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Guidelines for entry:

Post your recipe on your blog with a link to this post and Claire at Purely Food.  Don't forget to mention the relevant month’s host, that’s me this month, and attach the Fresh From the Oven logo as shown on this page.

The recipe can be one of your own or one that you have seen elsewhere.  Please be mindful of copyright and do not reproduce recipes verbatim that are not your own or that you have not obtained permission from the author to reproduce.  Posts can include a link to the original source of the recipe if necessary.

You are welcome to republish old recipes/posts but please add the information about this challenge.

Be as creative with the theme as you like!  You can post as many times as you like just make sure you follow the guidelines each time.

If you tweet about put your post on twitter please mention @utterlyscrummy @purelyfood and #freshfromoven in your message and we will retweet all those we see.

You do not need to enter every month to join in with the challenge.

Your post can be submitted for other blogging challenges, just make sure this complies with the rules of the other challenge.

And finally . . .

To make entering easier, simpler and more convenient I have created a Blog Hop Linky so you can add your recipe post whenever you like throughout the month.  It will also make compiling the round up and visiting all of your delicious posts much easier.