Nutty wholegrain spelt flour is the hero in these walnut and green olive rolls. Savoury, salty and perfect with a bowl of soup.
Spelt is an ancient form of wheat that's higher in protein and, while not gluten free, can be better tolerated than regular wheat by some people.
I haven't used spelt flour before and have been keen to try it for some time. You know how some things just linger on your to-do list for far too long? This is one of those.
So I tried my hand at a spelt flour bread dough, and made it a bit more special by making pinwheel rolls with a walnut and green olive filling. Yum! The wholegrain spelt flour is quite sweet and nutty in its own right, so adding walnuts just upped the awesome really.
The texture of these rolls is similar to bread made with regular wholemeal wheat flour, fairly dense and pleasingly chewy. Make this recipe as it is, or mix the spelt flour 50:50 with white wheat flour for a lighter and softer option.
The verdict? I'll be adding spelt flour to my pantry regulars. I really enjoyed these rolls alongside a bowl of green soup, and the big girl child requested the leftover rolls in her lunchbox for school. Win.
Get the recipe

INGREDIENTS
For the bread dough:
- 500 grams spelt flour
- 300 ml tepid water
- 1 teaspoon yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar or sweetener of your choice
- 1 teaspoon salt
For the filling:
- 1 cup walnuts finely chopped
- ½ cup pitted green olives finely chopped
- ½ cup parsley finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cracked pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Dissolve the sugar in the water, then stir in the yeast.
- Combine the spelt flour and salt in a mixing bowl.
- Add the water and yeast mixture to flour and stir to combine.
- Turn out onto the benchtop and knead for five minutes or so to form a smooth dough.
- Put the dough into a clean, covered bowl, and leave it in a warm place to rise. My house wasn't very warm and I kind of forgot about it, so I left it for about two hours. You can probably get away with less time, just keep an eye on it. You want the dough to roughly double in size.
- Heat your oven to 180C.
- On a lightly dusted bench, roll the dough into a long rectangle about 2cm thick.
- Mix the filling ingredients together (save time by making the filling in your food processor) and spread evenly over the dough, avoiding the long edges.
- Starting on a long side, roll the dough to create a long sausage shape. Give it a bit of a squeeze to even it out and make sure it sticks to itself nicely.
- Slice into even portions. I made eight, but you could easily make 12 smaller pinwheels.
- Arrange the rolls on a baking tray and let rest for another 10 minutes or so before baking.
- Optional - brush with a little milk (I used soy) to glaze, and sprinkle with a little rock salt.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
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