Another Filipino bakery favorite, these soft and fluffy cheese rolls are the perfect accompaniment to coffee, tea or hot chocolate for an afternoon pick-me-up.
Filipino cheese rolls should be on your list of breads to make at home.
As its name suggests, cheese rolls are soft and fluffy bread rolls filled with cheese.
The dough for these cheese rolls is the same as the ensaymada dough.
Please visit my ensaymada and pandesal post for lots of tips on bread making.
Manual Kneading vs Using a Stand Mixer
If you have a stand mixer, it will surely make your life easier, but if you have none, it is still doable.
I have prepared a video (scroll to the bottom) on how to knead the dough by hand. The main thing to do is to allow the dough to autolyse.
According to Ken Forkish, in his book Flour Water Salt Yeast, to autolyse means to mix the flour and liquid in the recipe and leave to rest for at least 15 minutes, preferable 20 to 30 minutes, before adding the salt and yeast.
This process of pre-mixing allows the flour to more completely absorb the liquid and activate the enzymes in the flour and allows it to be more extensible (i.e. easier to work with.) It also allows for improved gluten development in hand-mixed doughs.
After you autolyse, you will only have to knead for a few minutes but you will still get a soft and fluffly dough, with proper gluten development.
With a stand mixer, I would still strongly suggest an autolyse to jump-start gluten development. It will reduce your kneading time as well.
Gluten? What is Gluten?
Without getting too complicated, gluten are proteins found in flour which form into strands when flour and water are mixed together. This is what traps in the gas and allows bread to rise when baked.
Here is more information on gluten:
What Cheese Should I Use?
If you are in the Philippines, get a box of Eden or something similar.
It does not melt easily and will not ooze out of the roll if you didn’t pinch and close it well enough. It should also not leave a huge hole after baking because it melted.
I have had success with those pre-sliced cheeses for burgers, which I then stack in 3, slice into 3 then FREEZE for at least an hour.
What didn’t work for me was cheddar or Edam cheese, they just melted away to nothing.
Preparing the Dough
Make the dough and let rise until double, 1 to 2 hours, depending on how warm or cold your kitchen is.
Like with the ensaymada dough, I strongly suggest popping the dough into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes for easier handling.
Shaping the Cheese Rolls
To shape the cheese rolls, divide the dough into either 65 g balls for 18 rolls, or 45 g balls for 24 rolls.
Decide then how thick you want the cheese in the middle to be and slice your chosen cheese accordingly.
To shape, get a ball and press into a rectangle.
Place a slice of cheese in the middle, then roll the dough over the cheese, pinching the sides and edges tightly to avoid leakage.
Place on a lined baking pan and proof for an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how warm or cold it is in your kitchen.
I demonstrate how to shape them in the video below.
Baking the cheese rolls
To test if the cheese rolls are ready, look if they have risen a bit and look slightly puffy and also do a poke test.
To do this, poke one roll and if the indentation remains, it is ready to be baked.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/375°F and bake for 18 minutes for the bigger rolls and 15 minutes for smaller ones.
Finishing the rolls
Once the cheese rolls are cooled, slather them with softened butter and sprinkle with white sugar.
Enjoy!
How-to video for these cheese rolls
Pin here for future reference
Calories
Fat
Carbs
Protein
Tweety
Yields 18 - 24 pcs
Soft and fluffy cheese rolls!
4 hr, 30 Prep Time
18 minCook Time
4 hr, 48 Total Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 300 g (around 2 ½ c) bread flour
- 200 g (around 1 ½ c) all-purpose flour
- 7 g (2 ¼ tsp) instant yeast
- 15 g (2 tbsp) milk powder
- 10 g (1 ½ tsp) fine sea salt
- 95 g (scant ½ c) white sugar
- 45 g (2/3 c) instant mashed potato flakes or boiled and mashed potatoes
- 3 large egg yolks
- 335 g (1 1/3 c + 1 tbsp) warm water, add more if needed
- 112 g (1/2 c) butter, at room temperature, cubed
- Cheese slices
- Softened butter
- White sugar
Directions
- Into a large bowl, mix your flours. Add the room-temperature butter cubes and work it in with your fingers until the flour feels mealy and you have no big butter pieces left.
- Add in the sugar, milk powder, salt and mashed potato mix.
- Make a well in the middle. Pour in the water, the egg yolks and the yeast. Mix well.
- Cover and set aside for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour.
- Release the dough from the bowl by folding it into itself. You do this by putting you hand under the dough, pulling upwards a bit and folding the dough down in the middle. Do this a few times until the dough is unstuck from the bowl. If the dough is too sticky, you may work in a bit of flour.
- Knead the dough in the bowl for a minute, then, release the dough onto a floured surface and knead some more. 2 or 3 minutes should be enough.
- After that, cover and let rise until double in size.
- If you are using a stand mixer, I still strongly recommend an autolyse. Then knead on low (2 on a Kitchen Aid) for 5 minutes.
- Cover and let rise until double in size.
- The initial rise takes anywhere from 1 to 2 hours, depending on how warm or cold your kitchen is.
- What I like to do, as this dough can be quite sticky, is let the dough rise a bit then stick it in the fridge for a few hours, up to overnight.
- Or let rise until almost double and pop in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- The cold dough makes for easier handling.
- When the dough has doubled in size, divide the dough as follows:
- For 18 medium-size pieces – 65 g each
- For 24 small pieces – 45 g each
- Or if you don`t have a weighing scale, divide as equally as possible.
- Get a piece of dough. Shape into a rectangle by using the heel of your hand to flatten the dough and your fingers to regulate the shape.
- Place a piece of cheese (or 2, if you are making the bigger rolls) in the middle. Roll up tightly and pinch the edges.
- Place on a lined baking pan.
- Cover and let proof for 1 hour. It will look slightly puffy and will leave an indentation when it is ready.
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C/375°F. Bake for 18 minutes for the 65 g cheese rolls and 15 minutes for the 45 g ones.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- Slather with softened butter and sprinkle the top with sugar.
Notes
The baked cheese rolls can be stored in the freezer for a few months. If you are planning to freeze them, do not top with the butter or sugar. Defrost for a few hours before eating.
