I adough you cheesy pesto whirls!

Becca Wilson
Sep 4, 2017
2 min read

Afternoon! I hope you had a relaxing weekend. Check out my Instagram page 'https://www.instagram.com/_beccamary_gf_v_/' to see some photos of my slightly windy walk to Yesnaby Sea Stack. I've mentioned Yesnaby before, but yesterday we walked further and saw even more of the striking landscape. My hair did not enjoy the walk, but I did!

Before I went gluten free, one of my favourite lunch time treats from Sainsburys was their 'pizza swirls'. I wanted to attempt some kind of savoury tear-and-share bread to serve at our Sunday Italian Night so I found this recipe and just had to try them:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cheese-pesto-whirls

I pretty much followed the recipe, just using 450g gluten free plain flour with two teaspoons of xanthan gum (it binds and thickens gluten-free ingredients) instead of the white bread flour. For step 1, I left the dough for 3 hours, but, in hindsight, it might have been better to leave the dough for just an hour. Then the dough might have puffed up more at the second stage of proving. I left the dough to prove for 2 hours at step 3 and the whirls still didn't double in size. The dough itself turned out really well though, and it was very easy to roll out. I cooked the whirls for 25 minutes in the aga (170°C) and then they were ready. They didn't turn out as a tear-and-share so much, but we did have 13 individual pizza swirls and they were very tasty. The fresh pesto, sundried tomato and cheese filling was very flavoursome.

Like most baking and cooking, there's nothing better than eating your creation pretty much straight from the oven. However, I made the whirls on Saturday night, just because there was a fair bit of waiting in between the stages and I wanted to go exploring yesterday. Last night we warmed the whirls slightly, and served them with pasta, homemade pesto and roast veg - a very good combination!

It's fun experimenting and trying to make tasty gluten free food.

Have a good Monday! x gf v x