Perfect for dipping in your favorite marinara sauce or a hot bowl of soup, sourdough parmesan pesto pinwheels are a delicious addition to any meal or a filling snack for any time. These cheesy rollups are a bit like a rolled-up pesto pizza, or the cheesy savory cousin to cinnamon rolls.
I first made these Cheesy Pesto Pinwheels many years ago for a little party with my yoga friends along side my Pepperoni Pinwheels. Much to my surprise, the green pesto ones disappeared even faster than the pepperoni pinwheels!
Then last weekend when I was making a pot of soup, these little babies popped into my mind. And I decided they would be the perfect accompaniment to the soup. I’d invited my parents over to have lunch (and to supervise us installing our new kitchen light fixture). It just felt like the perfect occasion to make these little yummies again.
But THIS time, I used sourdough in the dough and added some baby spinach to the filling. Honestly, you could use store-bought pizza or bread dough if you wanted to. But it’s so easy to mix up the dough if you have a bread machine or a stand mixer! And SO much easier on the wallet, too. Besides, I much prefer the flavor of homemade bread dough.
The pinwheels were perfect for dipping into the soup. I really didn’t use as much cheese in this batch as I normally do, and you can certainly scale back on the cheese if you want. I really think they were great for dipping in soup with less cheese. But, if using for a snack, these pinwheels are intended to be cheesy. So let them be cheesy!
Roll out the dough 
Spread with pesto 
Sprinkle with cheese 
and fresh baby spinach 
Roll it up & cut it 
Ready to bake!
You can skip the refrigeration part and put them straight in the oven, but the bread will puff up more, leaving you with less filling/more bread.
The rollups can also be shaped, set on a tray and frozen, then put in a bag for baking later. Add 5 minutes or so to the cooking time if cooking from frozen.
Print
Sourdough Spinach Pesto Pinwheels
- Prep Time: 30 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 16 – 20 pinwheels 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped fine
- 2 Tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 2 cups bread flour
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 cups water (plus more if needed)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 oz. sourdough starter (straight from the fridge is fine)
For the filling:
- About 1/4 cup basil pesto
- 1/2 – 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 – 1 1/2 lb. part-skim mozzarella cheese
- Red pepper flakes
- About 2 cups baby spinach
Instructions
- Make the pizza dough by tossing all the ingredients into a bread machine or stand mixer and kneading on setting 2 for 3 – 5 minutes. The dough should come together and form into a ball, cleaning the bowl. Add just a bit of water if it’s not coming together and a bit of flour if it’s getting too sticky. Once it’s kneaded, set the dough in a warm place to rise until doubled, then cut the dough in half.
- On a floured surface using a rolling pin, roll one half of the dough into a long skinny rectangle about 10 inches wide and as long as it wants to be, rolling the dough as thin as you possibly can. You want the dough to be REALLY thin, so if the dough is resisting you and springing back, pause in the midst of rolling for about 5 minutes, covering the dough with a towel, and then try rolling it a little thinner.
- Spread a layer of pesto over the dough. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes and cheeses, leaving a little edge on the side nearest you, then top with fresh spinach, and if you like, some more mozzarella.
- Starting on the long edge furthest from you, bring up a bit of the dough to cover the long edge of the dough, then start rolling the dough in and over towards you, rolling it up, jelly roll style and gently pushing the bottom underneath to let the fillings and cheese roll up into the roll (rather than getting shifted outwards).
- Wet the long edge of the dough nearest you with water, then stretch that layer up and wrap it around the “log”, pressing gently to seal. Tuck the ends of the log in and press the dough on the edges together with your fingers so they don’t “leak” cheese.
- Set the roll on plastic wrap and wrap it up so it’s fully wrapped, leaving a little bit extra wrap at the ends so you can fold them over to fully enclose the rolls. Put the roll in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days. (Best if used or frozen within a day.)
- When it’s almost time to eat, preheat the oven to 400 F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or brush with oil. Cut the rolls into 1 inch slices using a knife or (unflavored) dental floss. Set each roll on the prepared sheet, cut side down, leaving a little space in between the rolls. Don’t worry if there are some air gaps inside the rolls–they’ll fill in as they cook. If any of the pinwheels gets “squished” in the cutting process, gently shape it back into a circular shape. Sprinkle any escaped mozzarella cheese on top of the pinwheels.
- Bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until the pesto pinwheels are golden brown and the cheese is fully melted and a little browned on top. Serve with warm marinara sauce or for dipping in your favorite soup.
Notes
See post (above) for pictures of the shaping process.
RECIPE SOURCE: Sumptuous Spoonfuls – https://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/ … © Copyright 2022, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
Keywords: Pesto, Cheese, Parmesan, Mozzarella, Sourdough, Whole Wheat
2 comments
Your pinwheels look incredible 😍 ✨️
Nettie
Thank you, Nettie! They were delicious. 🙂