Milk bread scrolls with salsa verde and toasted fennel seeds

by Leah Halmagyi

Ingredients

  • 1.25kg bakers’ flour
  • 20g dried yeast
  • 800ml water
  • 1 Tbsp fennel seeds
  • 75g full cream milk powder
  • 25g fine salt
  • 2 bunches parsley leaves
  • 1 bunch mint leaves
  • 1 bunch basil leaves
  • 1 bunch thyme leaves
  • 8 cloves garlic, minced
  • 8 anchovy fillets
  • 2 tsp baby capers
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
  • ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • sea salt flakes and freshly-milled black pepper

Instructions

1 Preheat oven to 200°C. Combine 700g flour in the bowl of an electric mix with the yeast and water and mix gently, then set aside for 15 minutes. Bat with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 10 minutes, until the batter clears the sides of the bowl. Cover and set aside for 2 hours, until the batter rises and collapses. Meanwhile, toast the fennel seeds in a moderate oven until golden, then crush in a mortar.
2 Add the remaining flour, milk powder, fine salt and fennel seeds to the bowl and mix with the dough hook on slow speed for 10 minutes, until a smooth dough forms. Cover and set aside for 1 hour, until doubled in size. Meanwhile, combine the herbs, garlic, anchovies, capers, mustard, vinegar and oil in a blender, then purée to form a coarse paste. Season with salt and pepper.
3 Roll out the dough to a rectangle 35cm x 50cm. Spread with the herb sauce and roll up to form a loose coil. Slice into twenty pieces then arrange on lined oven trays. Cover and allow to rise for 30 minutes, then bake for 25-30 minutes with a short burst of steam, until golden. Cool on a wire rack.