Savoury Crescents

Name: Savoury Crescents
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 16 crescents
Ingredients: 5 cups bread flour; 1 tablespoon dried yeast; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 teaspoon dried herbs; 3 tablespoons oil; 1 tablespoon honey; 2 cups luke warm water; 2 tablespoons tomato paste; 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated; 1 cup ham, chopped (or cooked bacon); 1/2 red onion, finely chopped; 1/4 cup pesto sauce (I used a shop bought chilli, capsicum, cashew and parmesan pesto dip); 100 -150 g camembert cheese, finely sliced; 6 semi dried tomatoes, chopped; 2 eggs, beaten

Submitted by Kookaburra

"These are a fabulous cross between bread rolls, croissants and pizza. Don't let my super detailed instructions put you off, they're really easy to make, even if you're a beginner at working with yeast and kneading dough. Basically, the idea is you make a dough, roll it out into a 'pizza', top the pizza, slice it, roll each slice into 'croissant' shape, then bake. I made mine with two different kinds of fillings but you could make them all the same if you like (just double the filling ingredients). And don't necessarily use the fillings I suggest - use your imagination! Try any combination of: chopped salami, chopped semi-dried tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms, chopped herbs, camembert, goats cheese, chopped capscium (peppers), sliced olives, pesto, tapenade, etc, etc. Times given below don't include 1 hour for the dough to rise."

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photo by Chef Oz

Ready In:: 1hr 20mins
Ingredients:: 16
Yields:: 16 crescents

ingredients

Dough
5 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon dried yeast
1 teaspoon salt
¹⁄₂ teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried herbs
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 cups luke warm water
Filling 1
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 cup ham, chopped (or cooked bacon)
¹⁄₂ red onion, finely chopped
Filling 2
¹⁄₄ cup pesto sauce (I used a shop bought chilli, capsicum, cashew and parmesan pesto dip)
100 -150 g camembert cheese, finely sliced
6 semi dried tomatoes, chopped
Glaze
2 eggs, beaten

directions

First make the dough. Put all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.
Make a well in the centre and add the oil, water and honey.
Use a wooden spoon to mix as much as possible, then hoe in with your hands - make sure they're clean!
When you have a nice sticky ball with most of the flour incorporated, turn out onto a floured board or bench.
If the mixture seems too wet or too dry, just add a little more flour or warm water. It's very forgiving.
Now, knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic - again, if it feels too sticky or too dry, just keep sprinkling on a little more flour or a little more water.
When you can shape your dough into a nice, smooth round ball, place it into a large, oiled bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap, drape a clean tea towel over the top and place it in a warm, but not hot, place to rise.
It will take about an hour (perhaps a little longer) for the dough to double in size.
When it has risen, turn the dough out onto a floured board or bench and divide into two roughly equal portions.
Put one portion aside, and cover it with a tea towel until needed.
Set your oven to 180C (350F) and make sure there are two racks near the centre of the oven to accommodate two baking trays.
Now, shape the first portion of dough into a nice round ball and then, using a rolling pin, roll out into a round 'pizza' shape, about 8mm (1/3") thick (don't worry if it's not perfectly round, close enough will do).
Spread 'pizza' with tomato paste (or pesto or whatever you have chosen), then evenly sprinkle over the remaining toppings.
Cut one slice from the 'pizza' about 9-10cm (3 1/2 - 4") wide at the edge and pull it away so you can work with it.
What you're going to do now is roll it up into a 'croissant' shape.
Roll up the 'pizza slice' starting at the 'crust' edge and working down towards the point, pulling out the edges gently as you go.
Sit it on the bench so that the pointy bit comes over the top towards you and points down.
Now curl both ends around to the front to form a crescent shape.
(I think it looks a bit like a crab at this stage, and you're curling the 'legs' around to meet at the front of the body. And don't worry if your crescents look a bit 'wonky' they'll be fine once they're cooked.).
Place the finished crescent onto a baking tray lined with silicone paper.
Repeat cutting a slice, and rolling up, until you have used up all of the first 'pizza'.
Finally, using a pastry brush, paint the tops of the crescents with the beaten egg, and if you like, sprinkle over any topping that has spilled out onto the bench.
Now, take the second piece of dough, form into a ball, roll out into a 'pizza shape', spread with pesto (or whatever you have chosen) and sprinkle on toppings evenly.
Slice (one piece at a time) and roll up, putting each completed crescent onto a second lined baking tray.
Brush over beaten egg and if you like, sprinkle over any leftover topping.
Place trays into the preheated 180C (350F) oven for 15-20 minutes or until nicely golden brown and firm to touch.
Remove from oven, cool slightly on racks, and serve warm.
Leftover crescents can be frozen, thawed and re-heated in the oven.

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Reviews

These were great (as all of Kookaburra's recipe seem to be). I made them exactly as described. Apart from a couple unrolling and some of the camembert oozing out, they turned out just as I hoped. I served them straight out of the oven with Kookaburra's Hungarian soup on a cold Canberra night and it went down a treat. The remaining crescents are going into school lunches. I would suggest going for a half portion, i.e., one 'pizza', for people not used to yeast cookery. I didn't bother with the glaze and they were fine. I've since discovered the trick to stop them unrolling is to put the 'point' of the triangle underneath the crescent.

Chef Oz

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

Kookaburra

224

<p>Above: Slideshow of our garden at Avalon Slideshow of our recent holiday at Woodgate Beach, South-East Queensland, Australia. Hi! I'm Kookaburra, from Australia. First, a promise. I will only post recipes on this site which I've made myself and to which I would personally give a 5 star rating - what you give them is up to you ;-) I look forward to receiving your feedback. If you look at my reviews, they're all 5 stars. That doesn't mean I give 5 stars to every recipe I try. I'm just not interested in giving poor ratings to anyone else's recipe because I accept that different people have different tastes. So, I've decided that I'll only review those recipes which I really love and which I'd make again and recommend to friends. If a recipe meets that criteria - even if it needs a bit of 'tweaking' to match my tastes, I'll give it 5 stars. If not, I'll just delete it from my recipe book and no hard feelings. I'm not advocating this as the 'right' approach. I just decided I needed a consistent strategy for rating and this is mine. I'm passionate about cooking - and eating! What I look for in food is something that 'zings' in the mouth. I like lots of taste - I'm not a big fan of subtlety. I don't often cook recipes exactly as written. I like to experiment and adapt things to my own taste. A retired marketing executive and academic, I live with my elderly (but thoroughly modern) mother in a tiny mountain village at the edge of the rainforest. I'm female, happily single, in my mid-40s and boast the Rubenesque figure of a passionate cook! Avalon, our 'story-book' cottage, overlooks a small lake. As I sit at my computer or work in the kitchen, I'm serenaded by a cacophany of native birds - including a very fat family of kookaburras! We have quite a large property and are lucky to have vegetable gardens and a variety of fruit and nut trees. I look forward to sharing recipes on Recipezaar with family, friends and friends I've yet to meet. last minute flight</p>

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