I never know quite how something will turn out when I start making it. (Last week I had a cake turn green when I added something red. I asked an expert, she asked a chemist. Nobody had an explanation. It’s a culinary mystery.) I was quite excited about the idea for these goat cheese rolls, but they were the product of a spate of sleepless nights, so you can’t be quite sure how it will play out in the real world. I thought of making a sort of savory version of a cinnamon bun. With a brioche/babka type of dough. And on the inside…goat cheese and thyme, a classic combination for a reason! And I wanted balsamic, and brown sugar. But just a bit of each. And butter, of course. And then I had all sorts of wild ideas for additions – nuts, olives, rosemary (I want to put rosemary in everything lately! Everything!) raisins, cheese which actually melted… I decided to keep it simple, and I’m glad I did. These turned out better than I could have expected. I’m so pleased and proud. And I wouldn’t say that, because it sounds boastful, but I did make a disappointing green cake this week, so I think I’m allowed. These were really nice with a bowl of soup. Very flavorful, with a hint of sweet, a hint of acidic, and lovely little nuggets of goat cheese. And fun to eat, too, the way a cinnamon bun is, because you can peel the layers apart in a big circle. My son Isaac (who doesn’t like much that I make) said, “Mom, I don’t like these. I love them!” (For the record, you could add any of the items I thought of adding. Or another cheese altogether if you don’t like the cheese of the goat. Gorgonzola would be good! With little chopped up pear and walnuts… Hmmmm…..)

Here’s Rico Rodriguez with Gunga Din. It has nothing at all to do with goat cheese or rolls, but I’m completely infatuated with his music at the moment. He’s a ska trombonist (he played the trombone on the Specials Message to you, Rudy) His album Man From Wareika is phenomenal, and I can’t stop playing it (thanks, Tony!). So sweet and soulful.

This makes six largish rolls. I wanted to start with a small batch, because I wasn’t sure how they’d turn out.

1 t. yeast
1/4 cup warm milk
1 t. sugar

4 T butter, very soft
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1/2 cup milk soured with 1 t. lemon juice

4 T soft butter
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 T. brown sugar
1/2 t. thyme
1/2 cup goat cheese – crumbled
salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper

Dissolve the yeast & sugar in the warm milk and leave to get foamy.

In a large bowl, cream the butter. Add the egg and the yeast mixture and mix well. Add the flour, salt and baking soda and mix everything together. Then add the soured milk. At this point you should have a workable dough, but if you need to add more flour or milk, go right ahead.

Knead for about 5 minutes, until the butter is completely incorporated, and the dough is soft and elastic.

Put it in a large, lightly oiled bowl, and roll it around so everything is coated. Leave it in a warm place about 2 hours to rise. Punch it down. (At this point I let it rise for about another hour and a half, because I wasn’t ready to cook it, but I’m not sure this second rising period is necessary, if you’re in a hurry)

About an hour before you’re ready to eat these…roll the dough out to be a big rectangle. 1/4 inch thin X 1 foot X 16 inches, approximately.

Mix the softened butter, the balsamic, the brown sugar and the thyme. It won’t all incorporate perfectly, but don’t worry about it. Spread this over the dough – right up to the edges. Now crumble the goat cheese over. It needn’t all be the same size, but try to get it fairly evenly distributed.

Now decide how many and how big you want your rolls, If you roll it up starting at the shorter end, you’ll have fewer bigger ones (right?) and vicey versey. Roll the dough up however you decide. Then cut it into pieces. I cut mine about 2 inches wide each, but you could make them smaller if you wanted to.

Set them next to each other on a greased sheet.

Let them rest for another 1/2 hour. During the last fifteen minutes of this, preheat the oven to 375.

Bake for about half an hour, till they’re big and fluffy and golden brown and crispy.