Adding Some Class with Nancy of Gotta Get Baked

Bacon Pesto Parmesan Rolls

Have I got a treat for you...

Like many of my food blogger friends I've made, I met Nancy of Gotta Get Baked through the #SundaySupper Movement. Like the other ladies I've featured here over the last few months, Nancy has a true talent in the kitchen but her skills are very different than mine. As her blog name suggests, she is a baker which requires precision in what she does which is different from cooking. I'd also like to point out that she's a criminal law attorney so I'm awed that she has the time to maintain a busy career, a family and have time to produce delicious food. I'd like to give you a list of my favorite dishes Nancy has made, but I honestly can't choose because they're all so unique.

Something else I admire about Nancy is her writing style. It's often funny, thought-provoking, candid but always sincere. Her straight-forward approach conveys her thoughts in a clear manner and it's something I wish I had. She even has a category of posts called Angry Asian but what makes her different from others is things that get under her skin are very reasonable. How could you argue against common courtesy, cyber-bullying and the public's obsession with celebrities?

Before I leave you with Nancy, I'd like to note my strong recommendation to follow Nancy on twitter, instagram, and pinterest, plus add her on G+ in addition to giving her facebook page a Like.

And now, I present Nancy:

Howdy, readers of Crazy Foodie Stunts! I’m Nancy and I blog over at gotta get baked. I’m honoured to be featured in DB’s Adding Some Class series today.

I had the pleasure of meeting DB through our Sunday Supper group. He stands out not only for being one of the few men in the group but more importantly because he’s highly intelligent, incredibly talented in the kitchen and he’s always challenging himself to be better at what he does.

Given how much I admire DB, I had to think of something ridiculously awesome to make for him. I wanted to go savoury in keeping with the savoury foods DB usually cooks but I also had to bake because, duh, my blog name. Baking’s in my veins. It’s my everything.

Bacon. Pesto. Parmesan. Carbs. These are some of the foods that make my world go round and they also happened to be in my fridge. I combined them into no-knead, overnight savoury rolls.

In the process, I almost burned my house down. Ok, not really (I’m prone to hyperbole) but I did have a smokin’ hot time baking these, literally. I thought I was being brilliant by baking the rolls in my cheesecake pan for easy removal of the rim after the rolls cooled. People, these rolls were bursting with olive oil from the pesto and a generous amount of parmesan cheese. All of that grease dripped onto the bottom of my oven. The fragrance in the air turned quickly from gloriously delicious to acrid and forest fire-y. Plumes of smokes were billowing out of my oven. I.freaked.out. The fire alarm would not stop ringing. My poor dog was beside herself.

As I stood there fanning the smoke out of the open windows, the words “grease fire” kept running through my head. I wondered if I had enough time to google “what to do when the oven’s on fire and you don’t own a fire extinguisher”. Thankfully, it didn’t come to that. I didn’t burn my house down and I ended up with these fabulously crispy, flavourful bacon pesto parmesan rolls.

I used home made pesto but you can also use the store bought stuff.

No Knead, Overnight, Bacon Pesto Parmesan Rolls (adapted from Jim Lahey’s My Bread, Pancetta Rolls at p. 73)

2 cups bacon, diced

2 tbsp bacon grease, cooled

3 cups bread flour

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp active dry yeast

1 ½ cups cool water (55 to 65 degrees F)

flour for dusting

pesto (as much or as little as you want)

grated parmesan (as much or as little as you want)

Cook the bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring until crisp and golden. Place the cooked bacon on paper towels to cool. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, bacon, salt and yeast. Add the water and reserved bacon grease. Using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix together until you have a wet, sticky dough. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is covered in bubbles and the dough has doubled in size, anywhere from 12 to 18 hours.

When the first rise is complete, generously flour a work surface. Using a bowl scraper or rubber spatula, scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece. Flour your hands and lift the edges of the dough towards the center, making a round ball.

Generously dust a tea towel with flour and place the dough in the centre of the towel, seam side down. Flour the top of the dough. Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm spot in your kitchen to rise for another 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it has doubled and it holds the impression when you gently poke it with your finger.

Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Use a round 9 inch cake pan or a square 9X13 pan to bake the rolls. I wouldn’t recommend oiling/greasing the pan because oil will pool on the bottom from the pesto as it bakes.

Unwrap the dough and place it back onto the floured work surface. Cut the dough in half. Cut one half into four strips. Place as much pesto and grated parmesan as you want onto each strip. Roll up the strips – note, the dough is very wet and sticky. That’s how it should be so don’t be concerned. Place the rolls in your pan. Repeat the process with the other half of the dough.

Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. After the first 20 minutes of baking, I turned the heat down to 380 degrees F because my rolls were browning rapidly. If the top is browning too much for your taste, you can also cover the pan with aluminum foil at this point. The rolls are ready when they’re dark brown.

Allow to cool and then dig in! The edges and bottom of the rolls are incredibly crispy and crunchy, the inside is soft yet a bit chewy, and the bacon and pesto are fabulously flavourful.  The Husband and I couldn’t stop eating them, which isn’t saying much because we’re pigs but honestly, these rolls are delicious.

The rolls are best the day they’re made. Store at room temperature in an air tight container. If they last longer than a couple of days, I recommend toasting them or heating them in the microwave before eating.

That’s it, folks! Thank you so much for inviting me here, DB!

Once again, Nancy has delivered. Bacon, pesto, and parmesan are some of my favorite ingredients. I'd like to thank her for being my guest today!

Before I leave you, please be sure to enter my Carla Hall cookbook giveaway and the garlic lover's prize package giveaway by tomorrow night when they both end!