Cottage Cheese and Dill Rolls and Bread

While I most often prefer to come up with my own recipes, when I saw a recipe for “Caraway Puffs” in THIS blog, I knew I had to make it.

The rolls looked so tasty, and the description the blog’s author, Brent Borchardt, gave, was very tempting. Who wouldn’t want to try rolls/muffins that are “light as a feather and puffy as a cloud.”?  

I also loved the fact that the rolls did not require lengthy kneading or proofing, and that they can be baked in a couple of hours.

One thing I hesitated about was the caraway seeds, which I don’t use often, so didn’t have them at hand. Instead, I’ve decided to improvise with fresh dill, as I thought it could work well with the cottage cheese. This was a good decision, as the dill gave the bread wonderful flavor and aroma. To give the dough an additional kick, I also added to it a small amount of freshly ground four peppers mix.

While preparing the dough, I encountered a small problem: the dough, which, according to Brent, was supposed to be more of a batter, rather than a stiff dough, turned out to be stiffer than expected. To resolve this, I ended up adding 1 extra cup of water to it. This, maybe, is the reason why I’ve ended with extra dough, which I’ve decided to bake in a bread pan.    

The rolls and bread’s texture turned out light as feather, as described, and had wonderful aroma, both from the fresh dill, and from the butter, that was brushed on top while they were still warm.

To enhance the dill flavor even further, I mixed some more soft butter with more fresh dill, salt and pepper, and served the rolls and bread with it.

As dill and salmon pair so well together, serving both rolls and bread with smoked salmon and capers, made for a very tasty brunch.

This is a recipe I will no doubt be using again and again, as is, or with different flavorings. Try it and enjoy.

 

Notes:

* Obviously, the original caraway seeds can be used instead of the dill.

* Click HERE for a recipe for salmon baked with dill butter and white wine.

 

Makes: 12 rolls, 1 bread loaf

Prep time: 15 minutes

Proofing time: 1 hour

Baking time: about 15 minutes for the rolls, 20 for the bread  

 

Ingredients:

2 packets dry yeast (0.5 oz/14 grams/4 tsp)

½ to 1½ cups lukewarm water (original recipe calls for ½ cup only. See introduction.)

2 cups (16 oz /454 grams) cottage cheese, small curd (I used Daisy’s 4%)

¼ cup sugar

2 tsp salt

½ Tbs baking soda

2 Tbs milk

2 L eggs

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh dill

½ tsp freshly ground four peppers mix

4 cups (17 oz/480 grams) flour

2 Tbs very soft butter + 1 for brushing the pans

For the dill butter (optional):

1 stick (4 oz/115 grams) soft butter

2-3 Tbs finely chopped fresh dill

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly ground four peppers mix

For serving (optional):

Smoked salmon, capers

 

1. In a small bowl, mix the yeast and ½ cup of the water. Cover and let foam in a warm place.
2. In a small pot, mix the cottage cheese, sugar, salt, baking soda and milk. Cook over medium, mixing gently, just until lukewarm,
3. Whisk the eggs and dill in a large bowl. Add the cottage cheese mix, and the foamed yeast, and whisk to combine.
4. Add the flour, 1 cup at a time (and the remaining water, only if needed – see introduction), and mix to form a soft dough. Switch to a spatula towards the end. Cover the bowl and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Brush a muffin pan and a bread loaf pan with 1 Tbs soft butter.
6. Gently, mix the dough (it’s very soft!) and divide between the muffin holes, up to ¾ of their height. Transfer the rest of the dough (if any) into the bread pan (or make more rolls). Let rise for 10-15 minutes
7. Bake for about 15 minutes for the rolls, and about 20 for the bread, rotating the pans halfway through the baking, until puffed and golden-brown.
8. Brush the tops with soft butter. Let sit in the pans for 5 minutes before carefully transferring to a rack, to cool to room temperature.
9. Serve warm, as is, or with the dill butter, smoked salmon and capers, if choosing,