Ground Elder Pesto Twists

A dear friend was coming over for lunch, I had planned on having soup for lunch but fearing my batch of regular sourdough would not be ready in time I decided to make a small batch of pesto twists using some of the dough and some of the pesto I made with Ground Elder the other day click here for the recipe. On reflection, although the result was tasty enough, I think I will make them with commercial yeast another time. The crust was typical of a good sourdough and had a good chewable texture and these twists would benefit from having a thinner crust.

Malawi makes it 96, welcome!

If you wish to use a commercial yeast recipe click here other wise click here for my sourdough recipe.

Take a portion of dough weighing approximately 400g, roll it out to form a rectangle measuring 30cm by 20cm on a well floured board. Spread 2 tablespoons of the pesto of your choice onto one half of the dough before folding over the other half to form a sandwich. Carefully divide the rectangle into 6 smaller ones. Cut each rectangle to form a central slit being careful not to cut right through each end. Fold the dough in on itself twice to form two twisted lengths attached by their ends see the post on gruyere cheese twists made with croissant dough but using the same technique click here for the recipe.
Leave the twists to rise on a tray lined with baking parchment for an hour before baking in a hot oven 200C for 12 to 15 minutes.

These twists are basically a technique for producing delicious little individual breads to have with soup, they can be made using any pesto or tapenade, or as in the gruyere twists they can be made with little more than cheese. They are a little delicate to handle but by no means fragile, just be careful to lay them out in the desired shape on the tray prior to the final rise before baking.