Lunchtime scrolls
This is one of the favourite lunches in my house. The best thing about them is they’re very versatile and can be made in umpteen ways to suit the flavour preferences of all children.
My boys like these made as ‘pizza scrolls’ but we have been known to make them as ‘cheese and vegemite scrolls’ too and other families have made them as ‘ham and cheese scrolls’ or ‘cheese and sweet chilli scrolls’ amongst the other possible variations.
Ingredients
Dough:
300ml warm water
2 tsp yeast powder (keep this in the fridge once opened)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
500g plain flour (I usually do a combination of white and wholemeal flours but feel free to make it any which way up to this weight)
1 tbspn olive oil
Toppings:
pizza sauce/pasta sauce/tomato paste/tomato passata/pesto
1 cup of grated cheese (or more or less depending on your children’s cheesiness preferences!)
Other toppings of your choice eg. pitted olives, pineapple, ham, chopped spinach etc (optional)
Method
Combine warm water, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix slightly.
Allow this to sit for ~10-20 minutes in a warm area until the yeast starts to bubble and froth
Add the flour and then the oil and work into a dough. Knead for ~ 5 minutes until smooth springy dough forms and then allow to rest in a lightly oiled bowl with a clean tea towel to cover
Once the dough has doubled in size (1-2 hours later), punch down. If you have time, work the dough back into a ball and allow to rise one more time. If you don’t have time move onto the next step (they’ll still be super delicious)
On a floured bench or silicone mat, roll dough out into a large rectangle
Spread your sauce (pizza/pasta/pesto sauce) all over the dough
Sprinkle your cheese and choice of toppings all over the rectangle
Now it’s time to roll up the scrolls, for a few big scrolls, roll the short edge of the rectangle until you have made short log.
If you want many smaller scrolls (this is what I do), then roll the long edge of the rectangle until you have a long log.
Cut the log into equal sized scrolls (~ 6 if big ones and ~10 if smaller ones)
Place scrolls on a tray either sides touching or individually (they turn out yummy either way)
Allow to rest for another 25 minutes
Place scrolls in a cold oven to 180 degrees for 15-20 minutes (keep an eye on them and take them out when the cheese is browned to your liking).
I tend to freeze half of them in a zip lock bag/container and keep the other half for the first half of the week and defrost them individually directly into the lunchbox in the mornings (they will have defrosted by lunchtime).