Cheese Filled Rolls - aka Zombies

Christmas is over, yet the germs are still lingering in this house!  My daughter came home from college and brought with her a nasty virus.  Despite my best sanitizing efforts, we all got it.  I've been dragging the last couple of days, but today I wanted bread to make me feel better.  Not just any bread, Zombies to be exact. I never was a fan of the cafeteria in school, but one thing they did excel at was making Cheese Zombies.

Baking bread is one of those perks of being stuck in the house all day.  Santa was kind to me and brought me some lights for my photography.  He probably felt sorry for me since he saw this pathetic set-up the other day.  Little did Santa know but I was actually working on a post called, "Seriously Low-Budget Photography Tips!" 

I was feeling a little more chipper today and finally had the energy to set my new lights up.  My younger daughter was so excited; she decided we should have a photo shoot with Teddy.  I think she enjoyed it way more than he did.

Cheese Zombies

2 cups warm water 110 degrees

1 tablespoon dry active yeast

6 cups bread flour (all-purpose flour works fine also)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Cheese

Dissolve yeast in warm water, let sit for 5 minutes.  Add to mixer with dough hook.  Add flour, sugar, salt and butter; mix till it comes away from sides of mixer.  Put in oiled bowl, cover and rise until doubled.  About 1-2 hours.

Place dough on floured board and cut dough in half.  Then cut each of the halves in seven equal pieces.

Grab a piece of dough and dip it in a little flour and flatten it to a circle with your hands.  In the center of the dough this is where you can get creative.  For the kids I made pizza rolls, stuffed with mozzarella, sun-dried tomato pesto (or pizza sauce), and pepperoni.

My personal favorite, basil pesto and mozzarella cheese.  I just used store bought pesto since I haven't had any basil in the garden for a while.

Once your filling of choice is inside pull up outside edges to top and start pinching closed, twisting as you pinch.

Make sure and pinch them good, you don't want any of the lovely cheese leaking out.  Place them seam side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment.  Cover the trays with a clean dishtowel and let rise for another 30 minutes to 1 hour until doubled.  

After they are finished rising, brush with an egg wash (1 beaten egg and 2 tsp. water).  My super secret finish is a sprinkle of Himalayan Pink salt; any coarse salt would work fine.

Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 15-20 minutes till golden brown.

Serves 14.

Enjoy,

Gina