For breakfast or as a snack, these semi-whole wheat walnut rolls are delightful and perfect to accompany sweet or savory dishes. They are soft, flavorful, and very easy to make, prepared with natural sourdough starter, whole wheat flour and, above all, walnuts that give them a unique aroma and taste. Whether you decide to enjoy them with melted butter and honey or with mortadella, these walnut rolls will always make a delicious snack. Below you will find other recipes to make rolls in various versions, including ones made with baker’s yeast for those who do not have natural sourdough starter.
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Rest time: 12 Hours
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Cooking time: 25 Minutes
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Autumn, Winter and Spring
Ingredients
- 5.3 oz sourdough starter
- 3 1/3 cups whole wheat flour (soft wheat)
- 1 2/3 cups Type 0 flour
- 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
- 2 tsp fine salt
- 1 2/3 cups water
Preparation
Refresh your sourdough starter and let it double in volume.
In the meantime, shell the walnuts and toast them in a preheated oven at 320°F (160°C) for 12–15 minutes on the lowest rack to roast them and help remove the outer skin. Coarsely chop them, or for a milder flavor reduce them to a powder with a blender.
When the starter has doubled, place it in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large, wide, shallow mixing bowl together with the two sifted flours, the walnuts, the salt and 1 1/2 cups (about 350 ml) of water.
Begin mixing roughly; then add the remaining water little by little (about 3 tbsp + 1 tsp / 50 ml). You should obtain a soft dough that is easy to work with.
Turn the dough out onto your work surface and knead until the dough no longer sticks to your hands or to the table.
Form the dough into a ball and let it rest on the work surface, previously dusted with 00 flour or finely ground semolina (I prefer semolina because it helps dry the dough), covered with an overturned container, for one hour.
After one hour, gently stretch the dough with your hands as if to form a rectangle and perform the folds as shown in the photos.
Divide the resulting loaf into 12 pieces of about 3.5 oz (100 g) each.
With your hands, gently flatten each piece on the work surface and then roll it onto itself. You can shape the rolls as round or cylindrical according to your preference. Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, about 1 inch (approx. 2 finger widths) apart from each other.
Score the surface with a cross cut and let them rise until doubled, covering them with another baking tray or a tea towel. Rising times are indicative only, as ambient temperature and the strength of the sourdough starter will make a difference. In my case, the final rise took all night, about 12 hours, because the temperature in the house was quite low.
When the rolls have increased in volume, preheat the oven to its highest temperature and place a small pot with already boiling water inside the oven.
When the oven reaches temperature, place the tray on the middle rack and remove the small pot.
Bake at the highest temperature for the first 5 minutes, then lower it to 392°F (200°C) and continue baking for another 20–25 minutes approximately.
Try them warm with honey or Nutella; or with salami or mortadella. They are simply amazing.
After baking and cooling, the semi-whole wheat walnut rolls with sourdough can be stored in the freezer so you always have them on hand; alternatively you can keep them for a few days in food storage bags.
If you like the taste and aroma of whole wheat flour, on the blog you will find, in addition to various types of breads and rolls, whole-wheat flatbreads, fresh pasta and many other sweet and savory recipes using this type of flour, such as the whole-wheat cake with amaretti and ricotta, whole-wheat sandwich bread, whole-wheat walnut and chocolate cake and much more.
