Kimchi, gochujang & cheese scrolls

December 16, 2018

I bought Cindy a copy of the Smith and Deli cookbook for her birthday and committed to cooking something out of it when the weekend rolled around. Cindy was keen to recreate the Deli's famous scrolls - the standard option in the book is vegemite and cheese, but we went for one of the alternatives: kimchi, gochujang and cheese.

I'm not a confident baker, but this came together pretty well in the end. I needed a *lot* more flour than the initial 3.5 cups specified in the recipe, but once I got the dough to the right kind of texture the rest was pretty easy. If you're making them for brekkie you'll need to get up early - there's a bit of time waiting for the dough to rest etc - but they're well worth the effort. We ate this whole tray in about 2 days and I'm keen to try more variations on future lazy weekends.

Kimchi, gochujang & cheese scrolls
(from Smith & Deli-cious by Mo Wyse & Shannon Martinez)

1 sachet of dried yeast (2 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1.5 cups warm water
3.5 cups of flour plus extra if needed (I think I used at least 4 cups)
2 teaspoons salt
90ml olive oil
2 tablespoons gochujang, mixed with 1 tablespoon warm water and 1 tablespoon tomato paste (adjust the quantities depending on your love of chilli here)
1/2 cup of kimchi
200g grated cheese (we used the pre-grated Biocheese)

Combine the yeast, sugar and water in a bowl and leave for 5 minutes until it starts to froth up a bit.

Combine the flour and salt in a big bowl. Stir through the oil and then add the yeast mixture stirring constantly (the original recipe suggests using an electric mixer with a dough hook - I'd probably do this bit by hand next time, but do whatever you're more comfortable with).

Mix thoroughly until you've got a sticky dough ball - I had to add a lot of extra flour at this step to get a knead-able dough. Knead your dough for at least 5 minutes until it's soft and elastic. 

Leave to prove in a warm place for half an hour or so - it should double in size. Punch it back down to its original size.

Preheat your oven to 190°C. 

Dust your bench with more flour and roll the dough out into a big rectangle - about 45 x 30cm, maybe 10-15mm thick.

Spread the gochujang mix evenly across the dough and then sprinkle over the kimchi and cheese. Carefully roll the whole rectangle up into a giant spiral and then cut it into 8 scrolls, each about 6-7cm wide.

Lay the scrolls out on a baking tray, cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for another 15-20 minutes and then bake for 20 minutes, until things start to go golden on top. 

Leave the tray to cool for 10 minutes and then separate the scrolls and scoff them down.