Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don’t call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays…no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! Wednesday just happens to be the day I share baking recipes with you. All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.
This recipe, like the one for Garlic Pull-Apart bread, is not a start-to-finish bread recipe. Instead, it’s a way to fancy-up a pound of regular bread dough.
The two recipes are sort of similar, but unlike the pull-apart recipe, this one produces individual rolls, and it also incorporates more herbs.
To make these, you’ll need a pound of bread dough. You can use thawed bread dough from the freezer section of your grocery store, or you can do like me and use a pound of sandwich bread dough.
When I made this particular batch of rolls, I used a combination of whole wheat and white flour. In retrospect, I think I prefer my Italian spices on white bread, but my family scarfed down the whole wheat batch without complaint, so the whole wheat obviously didn’t render these rolls inedible.
If you’re making homemade bread dough, follow the recipe instructions up through the initial rise (i.e. make the dough, knead it, and let it rise for an hour).
First, roll out your pound of bread dough into a 12×12 inch square.
I use the term “square” loosely. 
Mix the butter and herbs together.
Spread the herbed butter over the dough and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese if desired.
Fold the dough into thirds (like we do with Cinnamon Twists), and cut into strips.
Twist each strip and place onto a greased baking sheet (I use these Vollrath baking sheets
).
Cover the rolls with a wet tea towel, and let them rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Beat an egg with a tablespoon of water, and brush egg wash over the rolls. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese. Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Italian Cheese Twists
1 pound bread dough
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, optional
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
Roll dough to 12 inch square. Combine butter and seasonings; spread over dough. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese if desired. Fold dough into thirds; cut into 15-20 strips. Twist strips; place on greased baking sheet. Cover with a wet tea towel and let rise 30 minutes. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
baker says
I just made the first batch of these for party 3 hrs away and they are delish!
I have to make 7 more!!!!
Helen in the UK says
These look delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipie … I might give this a go next time I make bread dough
julie says
YUM! looks delish!
Sherri says
Can we use fresh herbs? If so, do you know what the conversion would be? These look great! I also would like to know how you freeze your dough. I have been using King Arthur pizza blend flour and love it but last time decided to freeze half in a plastic bag and it changed and softened very wet and weird, was stuck to the bag and was not easy to work with when I thawed it.
Cate says
Oh, these look delicious! Putting them on my “to make” list.
Erika says
These look delicious. It seems like baking is not only something you do to save money, but is something that you love to do as well. It’s so important to make time for things you love – I think we can all take a lesson from that!
I saw the frozen bread dough in the freezer case at my supermarket but didn’t buy it. Have you ever tried it? If so, what’s your opinion? Have you ever tried making your own dough and freezing it like the supermarket kind? I’d be very interested to hear about that, because sometimes I just don’t have enough time to make bread from step 1!
laurie says
Oh, a day late…. We had manacotti last night. These looks delishious. Definately will try them soon. Thanks for sharing.
Kristin says
These are on my list for the weekend to make. I so look forward to your Wednesday recipe’s. Thanks!
kimmy says
I don’t believe it, i’ve just sat down for some lunch after making some bread rolls only to find your recipe for cheese twists. They look so yummy
i know all my gang will polish them off no problems.
So more flour is now on the shopping list and i’ll be trying them outvery soon.