Take the sliced cheese out of the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature. Put 100 g of bread flour and 5 g of salt in a bread machine, and add 80 ml of boiling water all at once. Switch on the machine to the 'dough kneading' setting, and let it run for about 5 minutes to make the hot water dough starter sponge. (It should form a soft dough as shown in the photo.)

If kneading the dough by hand: Use a bowl and a spoon or chopsticks to mix the ingredients for about 1 minute. When the dough comes together, the yudane is done. The sponge is very hot, so mix in the rest of the flour, milk and so on and let the dough cool down a bit before adding the yeast and kneading.

Deflate the dough gently, divide into 2 pieces and lightly round off each piece. Roll out one of the pieces, top with 4 slices of cheese and fold the dough around the cheese. If you are adding black pepper and/or dried basil, add it with the cheese before folding into the dough.

Roll the cheese-filled dough into a long thin rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds, turn 90 degrees, roll out again, and fold into thirds again. Repeat the roll-and-fold procedure one more time. If the dough is sticky and hard to handle, dust it very lightly with flour.

Roll the dough out again so it's about 20 x 15 cm. Cut into 6 pieces with a knife (to make long strips as shown in the photos).

Split each piece in half lengthwise, leaving a bit of one end still attached.

Twist each half of the dough in the same direction.

Twist each twisted piece together again. Form a ring with the twisted strip, and pinch the ends together securely.

Put the rolls on a kitchen parchment paper lined baking sheet, and leave them for their 2nd rising. If you leave the stick shaped pieces of dough as-is, they'll be long hotdog bun-like rolls. (They'll sit better if you place them with the cut sides down. When I placed them with the cut side up as shown in the photo, they fell over.) Form the rest of the dough while the first tray of rolls is undergoing the 2nd rising.

When the dough has increased to 1.5 times its original volume, sprinkle with grated cheese or dried parsley and so on to taste, and bake in a preheated 180°C oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool the rolls on a rack, and they're finished.

My special tip for the 2nd rising: For dough that will left to rise at room temperature, or dough that's waiting to be worked on, cover with a bowl that's been misted with water on the inside. The bowl will keep the dough from drying out. You can use plastic wrap or a tightly wrung out moistened kitchen towel of course, but by using a bowl you don't have to wash the cloths later or waste plastic wrap.

(Continued from previous step) For the first batch of rolls: put in a water-misted oven, and use the oven's "bread rising" setting to proof for 15 minutes. While the oven is preheating, put the baking tray with the rolls on top of the oven (put the tray on top of some newspaper and/or a cooling rack, and cover it with the misted bowl, to prevent it from coming into direct contact with the hot oven, and to prevent it from drying out) and let it rise for another 5 minutes.

While the first tray of rolls is undergoing its 2nd rise in the oven, form the second batch of rolls. Start the 2nd rise for that batch at room temperature. When you start baking the 1st batch, move the tray holding the 2nd batch on top of the oven. When the 1st batch is baked, start baking the 2nd batch immediately.