The Fresh Loaf

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Ricotta Garlic Knots

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Ricotta Garlic Knots

My wife requested some of these tasty rolls  at the last-minute for our belated holiday family dinner this past weekend.  She wanted something to go along with her eggplant parmesan and lasagna and these really went well.

Since I didn't have a lot of time to make these with yeast water or sourdough starter I used some instant yeast but to try to build some extra flavor I retarded the dough overnight in the refrigerator.

The garlic flavor is subtle in these so since my wife wanted some extra garlic punch, she made a compound garlic butter and brushed the knots before putting them in the oven to warm up before serving dinner.  It really brought out the garlic flavor and made these more decadent and tasty in the process.

I used some fresh milled Kamut flour for a little extra nutty flavor along with AP flour for the majority of the flour.

All-in-all these are a simple recipe to make and quite good for dipping in some homemade tomato sauce.

Formula

Ricotta-Garlic-Knots

Main

Directions

Melt the butter in a small heavy-duty pot and then add the ricotta cheese, minced garlic and milk until combined.  Let it cool to around 90 degrees before adding to the flour.

Mix flours with yeast to combine.  Next add remainder of the ingredients and mix on low for 1 minute and then for 5 minutes at speed number 2.  The dough should form a ball and clean the side of the mixing bowl.

Take the dough out of your mixer and form it into a ball and place in a well oiled bowl or dough rising bucket.  Immediately place the dough in the refrigerator overnight for up to 2 days.

When ready to bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for about 1 hour.

Next gently deflate the dough and form into knots or rolls and place on cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Cover with a moist towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray.  Let it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour until the rolls have almost doubled in size and pass the poke test.

FormedandRisen

Around 30 minutes before ready to bake the rolls, pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees and prepare your oven for steam as well.  I use a heavy-duty pan in the bottom shelf of my oven and pour 1 cup of boiling water in right before placing the rolls in the oven.

Right before you are ready to bake the rolls prepare an egg wash and paint your rolls.

Bake the rolls at 450 degrees for the first 5 minutes and lower the oven to 425 degrees until they are nice and brown.  You can brush them with some garlic butter when you take them out or if and when you warm them up later for serving.  My wife also sprinkled on some grated parmesan cheese for good measure.

These should take about 25 minutes to cook thoroughly.  When done  let them cool on wire rack for at least half an hour before digging in if you can wait that long.

 Crumb

Comments

CeciC's picture
CeciC

very lovely crumb n cuttie little knottreal lam so hungry after reading ur post! 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks.  I've been eating them every day....not good for my diet...nor were the 2 pretzel rolls I ate today either :).

MarieH's picture
MarieH

Love the idea of ricotta in these rolls. I'll be making them tomorrow for dinner. Thanks for the great recipe.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks.  Let me know how they come out.

Ian

ElPanadero's picture
ElPanadero

Those look right up my street !  I love garlic and with that Kamut element ambassador you are really spoiling us !On my list to make.  Just one point to clarify, you said you normally use fresh yeast or SD Starter.  How much of each would you normally use for this recipe?  Cheers

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks for your kind words.  What I meant to say is that if I had more time I would have used a sourdough starter or Yeast Water Starter.  If you wanted to do this, you can take around 15-20% of the flour and water and substitute a starter. 

Regards,
ian

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

and knots.  The Parmesan, garlic and ricotta goes so well together.  Perfect for your family dinner.

Well Done Ian

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks DA...it could have used some of your whole grain influence to make it even better :).  I'm sure Lucy wouldn't mind sneaking a couple in while your back was turned doing slap and folds!

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

These look nice Ian.  [I did a bread yesterday with garlic in it too….but it was a garlic paste with cheese added….a modification of a formula I found on Wild Yeast (Parsley Garlic Loaf)]  I am sure your kitchen smelled heavenly when these were baking.  Glad to hear that they were a hit!

Janet

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks Janet.  Your bake sounds great too!  Can you share your formula and procedure?  Always looking for anything with garlic, onions and or cheese :).

Regards,
Ian

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

 

 

                                    

Formula came in two parts.  First HERE I found on Wild Yeast which I fully intended to bake as described but the night before proofing I was surfing the KA site and ran across THIS video and couldn't resist giving it a try. The garlic paste was spread on the rectangle of dough and the cheese tossed on top;  all were rolled together cinnamon roll fashion. Parsley is still sitting in the refrigerator :(

Created great little loaves.  If you try this DO bake on parchment paper as the cheese and olive oil seep out of the top and a bit on the bottom.

Janet

Isand66's picture
Isand66

like a cannoli gone awry.  What a great idea for both.  Thanks for sharing.

Ian

mwilson's picture
mwilson

Another garlic fan here too. These look real tasty Ian. Nice touch with the Kamut. It's amazing what one can rustle up last minute.

Michael

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thank you Michael.

For a quick bake this came out very nice.  I will have to work on getting these even more garlicky and more flavorful.

Regards,
Ian

Julie McLeod's picture
Julie McLeod

These really do look delicious.  I've never made a dinner roll with extras like this.  About how many garlic cloves would that be?

Thanks for sharing your recipe and method and for all the photos.  

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I cheated and already had minced garlic from a bottle in olive oil....it's not as good as fresh minced garlic.  I would say about 2-3 most likely.

I hope you like it if you try them.

Thanks.

Ian

pmccool's picture
pmccool

And I'm sure they tasted lovely, too.

In case you missed it, Eric Hanner posted about a massively garlicky bread that he made, here, some years back.  You might just be interested in it.

Paul

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks Paul.  I will check out Eric's post as I'm sure I will enjoy it as his posts are always inspirational.

Hope your Pumpernickel baking is going well :).

Happy Baking,

Ian

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

of flours and additions!  I can just imagine how delightful and delicious these rolls tasted alongside the italian dishes.

You rolled up the knots so nice and attractively too.  

I like the use of a commercial yeast in these little knots because of the tenderness they will give to the bite, certainly not lacking in flavor in anyway and, what's a little indulgence now and then.  

I'm lazy and usually when I have an egg washed bread I skip the steaming.  I see your wife added a special delicious touch to the wash too.

I think these are the nicest garlic knots I've ever seen.  Nice work Ian and the Mrs.

Sylvia

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Ian, what beautiful and tasty RGknots you have prepared.

I think these have such a wonderful combination of flours, herbs.  

I'm lazy and usually don't steam my yeasted rolls when egg washed.  I love the addition of the garlic your Mrs. added the wash too!

What a delicious and perfect addition to your Italian dinner.  

I like that you zipped these rolls up with flavor and tenderness using a commercial yeast and overnight ferment. 

Very nicely done by you and the Mrs. touch too!

Sylvia

Isand66's picture
Isand66

You're too kind Sylvia.  Thanks so much for the kind words.  I hope you get to try these or some variation or another.  They are simple and worth the indulgence once in a while.  Now to a Jewish Rye and a multi-grain loaf I'm concocting now as soon as my cat Cosmo gets off my note pad :).

Happy Baking Sylvia.

Regards,
Ian

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Wow... just lost my response to you as well....what on earth is going on? 

Anyway...thanks for your generous comments.  I hope you get to try a version of these soon with some homemade lasagna baked in your WFO!

A little indulgence once in a while is necessary.

Now, I'm working on a multi-grain bread and a Jewish Rye if my Cat Cosmo would get off my note pad :).

Happy Baking Sylvia.

Ian

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

especially with some of your lovely smoked meats.

Funny a pan of lasagna was meant to go in on this last WFO bake.  I had cooked the meat in the WFO and all ready and didn't get around to making my fresh lasagna pasta that day so ended up just using my meat in a quick easy rigatoni  casserole the next day.  Your knot rolls would be fantastic with the either one.

Sylvia

Foodzeit's picture
Foodzeit

another awesome bake with cheese, now you're adding garlic, how wonderful they must taste. Reading it I suddenly thought how great it must be to make pretzel rolls with garlic?

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks.

I just made some pretzel rolls on Monday for my wife to bring to work.  I just had the last one toasted with some cheese for breakfast....your idea to add garlic is a must try for next time.  I've made them with cheese I the middle which is also pretty awesome.

Ian

Foodzeit's picture
Foodzeit

the thought of pretzels makes me hungry now. When they are still soft and just fresh from the oven, just simply with plain butter, no other baked good can beat those ones. In Germany we love our pretzels, pretzel rolls, pretzel snacks, pretzel long rolls such as in the form of the Seele.... I am out next week to Melbourne. I heard that there are some awesome artisan bakers and I am looking forward to find some Pretzels over there and check them out :). Ok have a Pretzel on me Ian and happy upcoming baking

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Enjoy Melbourne...I would love to visit one day.  I know from reading Pip's blog on TFL there are some great bakers so I'm sure you will be very happy with your visit.  Please share your experiences if you can and enjoy.

Regards,
Ian

Mebake's picture
Mebake

You got me with the last picture of the exposed interior, Ian. Marvelous as usual, and mouthwatering. I shouldn't look at your products while at work, it is too much :)

khalid

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thank you Khalid.  Just ate the last 2 with some leftover eggplant parmesan last night.  Wish I had more, but I guess I will have to make do with some more healthy multi-grain bread I'm about to pull out of the oven.

Look forward to your next bake and your market adventures.

Regards,
Ian

Skibum's picture
Skibum

They must be the ULTIMATE cheese buns! Ricotta, butter and parma! Well this ingredient list may just push these buns to the top of the to bake list, which is now totally out of hand!

My dark rye pineapple starter is looking very bubbly after 5 days, so I have made a test starter.  If it goes tonight, I will do a couple of more feeds and do a SD version of these buns, followed by another Jewish Deli rye bread from ITJB.

Beautiful baking as always Ian!

Best regards, Brian

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks Brian.

Look forward to reading about your next rye bake.

I just baked off a multi-grain with rye,, spelt, white WW and Red WW, molasses and coffee and tomorrow I'm baking a Jewish Deli rye form ITJB as well.  I have not made this one in a while and you along with someone asking my help on my blog have spurred me on to do it again.

Regards,
Ian