How to Make Spanish Inspired Ham & Cheese Spiral Bread Muffin

January 10, 2021. Cold winter day. Spiral Bread Muffin.

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This is one of the recipes that I’ve been meaning to write up and share for the longest time. One of my favorite bakers, Luis Troyano, from the Great British Bake Off, shared this recipe way back in 2015 with the UK Food and Drink Guides. This recipe is inspired by Mr. Troyano.

I think Luis has a gift of balancing and creating amazing flavors. He passed away suddenly late last year. I made one of his recipes – the Carrot and Cardamom Cake that was published in his cookbook, Bake It Great, as a way to pay tribute to this master baker. Hopefully, his legacy of delicious recipes and bakes will live on forever!

This clever and delicious spiral bread muffin uses the most popular ingredients you’ll find in Spanish inspired dishes: Jamón or ham, delicious Manchego cheese (made from sheep’s milk), roasted red peppers, briny cured olives and good olive oil. Combining these ingredients and wrapping them all up in a blanket of paprika tinged bread dough is just pure flavor genius.

To make this, you’ll first create the dough, and then prepare the filling. When the dough is ready, you make a large dough rectangle, and put in all the filling. Then, as if making a large swiss roll, you roll up the entire thing and cut the roll into pieces – each will have a nice swirl in the middle. And that’s pretty much how it’s done.

I love the versatility. These great little flavorful self-contained packages are perfect for on-the-go lunch, snacking, an appetizer, or as part of a fancy brunch. Well, let’s get baking!

Ingredients

Here are the items to make the Spiral Bread Muffin. I have listed them in the order they are used. The first group is for making the paprika flavored bread dough, and the second is all the ingredients for the filling.

Dough
4 cups (500g) bread flour (or high protein flour) and more for rolling out dough (or use rice flour if you have it handy)
11 oz. (320ml) warm water
1 tsp. (10g) salt, preferably fine
3 tsp. (10g) active dry yeast
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. sweet smoked paprika

Filling
4 slices (3.5oz/ 100g) thinly sliced ham, use Spanish Serrano ham if available
1 whole (130g) roasted red pepper, cut into strips
4 slices (3.5oz/100g) Spanish Manchego cheese, cut into strips
1⅓ cup (160g) pitted green olives, chopped coarsely
1 tbsp. Fresh ground black pepper
Extra Virgin Olive oil for drizzling

To make and shape the bread, you will also need a large mixing bowl, a stand mixer, rolling pin, 12 hole muffin pan, and tulip cupcake/muffin liners. I find using a stand mixer is the most efficient way to make this recipe, however, feel free to knead by hand if you love getting into the dough.

Making the Dough for Spiral Bread Muffin

We will start by making the dough that will be the base of our bread muffin.

Sift flour into a large mixing bowl. Next, add in all the other ingredients and about 3/4 of the warm water. Then, stir to combine, or if using a stand mixer use the dough hook attachment. Slowly add more water as required, about 1 tsp at time, until all the dry ingredients are absorbed. You may not need all the water. Once the dough comes together, this is when you see the dough will start to clump together and pull away from the side of the mixing bowl, knead for about 8 to 10 minutes (or about 5 minutes using mixer on low speed) until the dough is smooth and elastic.

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At this stage, shape the dough into a ball, and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Roll the dough in the olive oil to coat. Then, cover and leave to proof in a warm spot for one hour, or until the dough is slightly puffy.

Preparing the Pan and Filling

When waiting for the dough to proof, preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Next, line the muffin pan with the tulip liner and lightly spray with non-stick cooking oil. Set aside.

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Prepare the filling – ham, cheese, red peppers and olives. Slice the ham (I used spiral holiday ham here since that’s what I had at hand), cheese and red peppers into strips. Chopped pitted brined olives coarsely. Set aside.

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Prepare your work surface. I find a silicone mat or a pastry board to be helpful when rolling out dough. Set out your rolling pin, sharp knife, a small cup of flour – regular or rice flour (to dust the work surface and rolling pin to prevent sticking), all the filling, plus the black pepper. And you are ready for the next step.

Assembling the Ham & Cheese Spiral Bread Muffin

When the dough is ready, tip in onto a well floured work space. Punch down/deflate the dough and use the rolling pin to roll out the dough into a rectangle, about 20″ x 12″ (50cm x 30cm). I usually eyeball this, using the silicone mat as the guide.

Next, place the the ham slices in 2 stripes on the dough, lengthwise (parallel to the long sides). Then, the red peppers goes on top, followed by the strips of cheese. Carefully scatter the chopped olives evenly all over the dough. Finally, liberally sprinkle the fresh ground pepper all over everything and you are ready to roll this up!

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Start on the long edge, firmly roll up the dough into a giant Swiss roll. Keep a light pressure on the dough so that the filling inside will stay in place. When done, press lightly along the seam to seal. Let the rolled up dough rest lightly on the seam.

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Then, using a sharp knife, cut the roll into 12 even pieces. Place each one into the prepared tulip-lined muffin pan, making sure that the spiral is visible.

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Cover with greased plastic cling wrap and let it rest in a warm place for another 45 minutes, or until puffy.

Baking and Finishing Spiral Bread Muffin

When ready, pop into the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the tops are golden. Remove from the oven, lightly drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top of the muffins.

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This delicious Ham and Cheese Spiral Bread muffin can be served warm, or at room temperature.

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Buen Provecho!

Notes:

I have been fascinated with Spanish cuisine ever since I first visited Spain many years ago with my husband. The Spaniards love their food and wine. My husband learned Spanish by living and immersing himself in Madrid, living like a local after college. We have since went back to visit and stayed at their amazing paradores. If you have not been, you are in for a treat. Check out => https://www.paradoresofspain.com/aboutus.aspx

More Flavorful Ideas:

Have you tried making these fabulous 16-Point Star Bread? See how I made them here with either sweet or savory filling => How to Make 16-Point Star Bread

Love cinnamon? Check out how to make these sticky braided cinnamon knots => How to Make Sticky Braided Cinnamon Knots!

Looking for a fabulous and delicious vegetarian recipe for a gorgeous colorful centerpiece? Check out this yummy and colorful Buttery Bejeweled Rice => How to Make Festive Buttery Bejeweled Rice

I love the flavor of this Dundee Holiday Cake. My mom used to make this every holiday and doused it liberally with brandy. I prefer Bourbon in mine. See how I made it from scratch here => How to Make A Holiday Dundee Cake