Roasted Balsamic Strawberry Scrolls

Thank you Queensland for sending us strawberries during winter. On behalf of New South Wales, I thank you. I know we have had some bitter rivalry lately - I don't care much for State of Origin but a win for the Blues might have been nice....for once, I guess (*shrug*). Still, I am sure we can get over it as long as you keep us well stocked in strawberries this winter. 

I have macerated strawberries in a little sugar and balsamic before - if you haven't tried that, I highly recommend that you do. This time I went a step beyond that and roasted them to the point that if you touched them slightly, they would break apart.

 

I also added some ground black pepper to the mix. This was an experiment - I had seen something similar on Nigel Slater's Simple Cooking the other day and wanted to see what it would be like. I really enjoyed the dull heat it gave the strawberries, but if it is not your bag just leave it out. No worries. 

I could have happily stopped there and spooned it over some good vanilla ice-cream. But of course I just had to go and make scrolls for the first time on Sunday afternoon at about 3pm (it was a full but fun weekend). Food Bloggers; I am sure you all agree that this is not the ideal time to start baking and taking photos - due to the fact that it will be dark in two hours and all (not ideal photo conditions)...
Time was of the essence but I managed to get that dough to rise - what can I say other than, thank you yeast..and still thank you Queensland, for the strawberries.

There is ricotta in these scrolls. It's a pretty major player because those strawberries are intense! You need something bland and creamy to tone it down. 
You can see from the above photo that once I had rolled up and cut my scrolls, the whole operation looked to be shaping up for disaster - but I had no choice. They were going to be baked and if it all went pear-shaped, I might have had to show you how I make gin and tonic..
Needless to say, they worked and as you can see they are not all standing up very straight, but at least they didn't fall over. I was worried the filling would be gluey because there seemed to be so much of it, but it was smooth and delicious. I mixed some of the syrup left over from the strawberries with some soda - do this if you can, it's lovely. Consider these scrolls your antidote to winter!

Roasted Balsamic Strawberry Scrolls
The scroll part of this recipe was adapted from here

For the roasted balsamic strawberries
400g hulled and sliced strawberries
A good glug of balsamic vinegar, about 1/4 cup- don't use anything fancy
11/2 tbsp sugar
A few turns of freshly cracked black pepper - optional


Pre-heat the oven to 180C and line a tray with baking paper.
Toss the balsamic vinegar, sugar and pepper with the strawberries in a bowl and evenly spread over a the baking paper.
Bake for around 20 minutes until they are soft but still hold their shape.
Set aside to cool.

For the scrolls
1/2 cup warm milk
1 sachet dried yeast
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 egg, lightly whisked
2 cups plain flour
60 g unsalted butter
150g ricotta
1 egg yolk and 1 tbsp milk whisked together

Combine the milk, yeast and sugar in a bowl and set aside for 10 minutes or until it has become frothy, whisk through the egg. 
Cut the butter through the flour (I used a hand blender) until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the yeast mix and stir to combine. Gather it into a ball and place it in a fresh bowl in a warm place to rise for about 40 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with baking paper (I greased mine with butter because I ran out of baking paper).
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured bench and knead for about 5 minutes until it is smooth and elastic.
Roll the dough out to a 30 - 40cm rectangle. Fold the short sides in to the centre and then roll out again to a 30-40cm rectangle. 
Spread the ricotta out evenly over the dough.
Strain the strawberries (there will still be some syrup in the scrolls) and spread them evenly out over the ricotta.
Carefully roll the longest edge up until you have a large roll of dough. Don't worry if there is spillage, this is the messy part. 
Slice the roll into 6 equal parts and stand each part, cut side up, on your greased baking tray with about 1cm space between each portion. If they touch, this is ok too.
Brush each portion with the milk and egg mixture and bake for about 30 minutes or until they are golden in colour. 
Serve warm with coffee or the soda above.