Chorizo and Thyme roll

We had to go to S' mom's home and I was bringing over some snacks for lunch. I love the idea of some roll for a light lunch.

Sifting through my favorite cookbook,Bourke Street Bakery, I came across a very promising recipe that would make a perfect light lunch, Chorizo and Thyme Roll....and yes, I wasn't dissapponted. The recipe is really easy to make and srumptious. Plus, I love chorizo....I really thinks it makes any meals tastier with less efforts.

I come across the  Bourke Street Bakery  cookbook by accident. I live in Melbourne so I know nothing about  Bourke Street Bakery.  They are a very famous Sydney bakery in Surry Hill. The cookbook consists of recipes for all (I think) products sold at their bakery. They all looks scrumptious and really make me want to go to Sydney to see the shop. I won't miss this BSB when I'm in Sydney next time, I promise.

 Bourke Street Bakery

I adapted/tweaked the original recipe from the book a little bit. Instead of baking the chorizo, I pan-fried them. I also used my sourdough starter instead of yeast in the olive oil dough pre-ferment (so, I guess, it is a  really a levain instead of pre-ferment).

The recipe got quite a few parts altogether, the roll itself, the olive oil dough and caramelised onion. .... and here you goes the recipe....

Chorizo and thyme roll recipe
makes  4 rolls

Ingredients
100 g chorizo, cut into 1.5 cm cubes
125 g caramelised onion (store bought, or see below of the blog for recipe)
3 thymes sprigs, leaves picked
1 tablespoon milk
500 kg olive oil dough (see below of the blog for recipe or you can also use the pizza dough for this)

METHOD
Pan fry the chorizo over medium high heat until it's gold brown. Set aside to cool completely.

In a bowl, mix together the chorizo and onion with their oils and add the thyme. Stir in the milk until well-combined; set aside until needed.

Follow the instructions for making olive oil dough below

Pre-heat the oven to 220c (convection oven, or 240c for convention oven)

To shape the dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll it out into 25 x 10 cm rectangle, about 1.5 cm thick. Lay the long side parallel with the edge of your work  bench and mark the dough into thirds with your finger. Lay half of the chorizo mixture inside the middle third of the dough, spreading it evenly to the edges. Fold the right third of the dough over the middle and lightly press down to push out any air bubbles. Evenly spread the remaining chorizo mixture onto the folded third and fold over the left flap, lightly pressing down to seal.

Use your fingers to mark the dough into thirds, this time parallel to the bench. Fold the top third over the middle third, then overlap with the bottom third. Press the dough down and leave to rest for 30 mins.

Cut the dough into four pieces. Place on a greased baking tray (or tray line with baking paper), then place in the oven (and steam the oven if you'd like by spraying the oven wall with water several times, at one minutes interval for the first few mins).

Reduce the oven temperature to 200c and cook for 20 minutes, turning the tray after 10 mins, or until cooked and golden.







Didn't look exactly like the one in the book,
but I was really happy with it. It is a very yummy roll...

   




Nice open crumb

The roll tastes really nice. The spicy chorizo really goes well with camelised onion and I'm also really impressed with the flavour of the bread itself. It make me wonder how would it taste like at the Bourke Street Bakery itself?

olive oil dough (this recipe can also be made into paninis, flatbreads and grissini)

Pre-ferment

Ingredients
50 grams bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon milk
35 ml water
15g sourdough starter (or 1 g instant dry yeast)

Method
If using instant dry yeast - Put all ingredients in the bowl of the mixer on low speed for 2 minutes. Increase speed to high and continue mixing for 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a covered container that has been sprayed with olive oil. Rest the dough in the fridge overnight before using.

If using sourdough starter (like I did) - Mix all of ingredients about 10 -12 hours before you make the final olive oild dough. Let the mixture sit at room temperature in a covered container until ready to use.

Olive Oil Dough recipe
make 500 g

Ingredients
300 g bread flour
5 g  instant dry yeast
200 ml water
10 ml extra virgin olive oil
10 ml milk
2 teaspoon salt
Pre-ferment (all of the above)

Method

Put all of the ingredients, except the pre-ferment, into the bowl of the mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes, then increase the speed to high and continue mixing for 5 mins. Break the pre-ferment up with your hands and scatter into the bowl. Continue mixing on low speed for 1 minutes, then increase the speed to high and mix for 5 minutes, or unitl well-combined -- this may take an extra couple of minutes -- the dough should come away from the edges of the bowl and have a silky complextion when done.

Place the dough in a container that has been sprayed with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and set aside to bulk prove for 1.5 hours. Knock back (stretch and fold) the dough every 30 minutes during bulk prove -- this means you will need to knock back the dough twice in total.

To knock back the dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and press out into a rectangle, about 2.5 cm thick. Use your hand to fold one third back onto itself, then repeat with the remaining third. Turn the dough ninety degrees and fold it over again into thirds. Place the dough back into the oiled container, cover with plastic wrap, and continue to bulk prove for a further 1 hour. Once has finished to bulk prove, it is ready to be used in the chorizo and thyme roll above.

Caramelised Onion

Ingredients
500 g brown onions, thinly sliced
20 ml olive oil

Method
Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan over low heat. Add the onion and cook for an hour, stirring every 10 mins, until the natural sugars caramelise and turn the onion brown. All to cool.