This recipe is Pesto bread with a twist. Or maybe I should say, “spiral.” It’s made similar to a cinnamon roll or jelly roll in the sense that the pesto is spread over a sheet of dough and rolled up. I guess you could say it’s a “Pesto roll.” This is a dramatic looking loaf of bread and makes a great centerpiece on any table with Italian dishes, soups and salads and robust meat dishes like pork, beef and whole roasted chickens. Your bread machine can make this recipe easy, but you need to finish it with some other steps after the dough is kneaded and then bake the loaf in a conventional oven.
The pesto you use for this recipe can either be store-bought or you can make it yourself. You’ll need 10 ounces of pesto and we’ll include a recipe in this article for how to make it yourself.
The whole process may seem a bit complicated, but it’s actually fun and comes together fairly quickly once you have the basic dough out of the bread machine.
INGREDIENTS:
Dough Ingredients:
5 teaspoons of sugar
3 teaspoons of salt
1 ½ cups of water at 110 degrees Fahrenheit or 43 degrees Celsius (an easy way To achieve this temperature is to put the cup and a half of water in the microwave in a Pyrex measuring cup and microwave on high for 60 seconds.)
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
4 cups of bread flour or all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon of bread machine yeast or active dry yeast
Pesto Ingredients:
1 cup of fresh basil leaves (you can substitute spinach leaves)
1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic
¼ cup of pine nuts (you can substitute peanuts)
½ cup of grated parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of pepper
¼ to 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
For Glazing and Topping the Loaf:
1 egg yolk whisked with 1 tablespoon of water
2 tablespoons of pesto in reserve
Sprinkle of salt and a few cracks of black peppercorns
1/8 cup of fresh parsley chopped or dried parsley
¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons of pine nuts
DIRECTIONS:
DIRECTIONS FOR THE BASIC DOUGH:
1Put all of the ingredients into the the bread pan in the order indicated in the ingredients section and select the basic dough setting.
2While the machine is making the basic dough, you can make a pesto if you like.
DIRECTIONS FOR PESTO:
3Put all of the ingredients except the olive oil into a food processor and pulse until everything is finely chopped.
4With the food processor running, slowly add the olive oil until you have a paste-like consistency.
FINAL ASSEMBLY DIRECTIONS:
5Remove the dough from the bread pan and place onto a floured counter top surface.
6Roll the dough out to about a 20 x 20-inch sheet. Let the dough sheet rise for 15 minutes.
7Spread the pesto onto the surface of the dough and roll up the dough sheet.
8Place the pesto roll onto a buttered baking sheet in an “S” shape and let rise for 20 to 30 minutes.
9Glaze the dough with the whisked egg yolk and water glaze.
10Spoon a line of pesto along the top of the pesto dough.
11Sprinkle the pesto dough with the salt and pepper.
12Sprinkle the parmesan over the top.
13Sprinkle the parsley over the top.
14Gently press the pine nuts into the sides and top of the dough loaf in a random pattern.
15Let final assembly rise for 10 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius.
16Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until browned.
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS:
Dough Ingredients:
5 teaspoons of sugar
3 teaspoons of salt
1 ½ cups of water at 110 degrees Fahrenheit or 43 degrees Celsius (an easy way To achieve this temperature is to put the cup and a half of water in the microwave in a Pyrex measuring cup and microwave on high for 60 seconds.)
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
4 cups of bread flour or all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon of bread machine yeast or active dry yeast
Pesto Ingredients:
1 cup of fresh basil leaves (you can substitute spinach leaves)
1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic
¼ cup of pine nuts (you can substitute peanuts)
½ cup of grated parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon of salt
½ teaspoon of pepper
¼ to 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
For Glazing and Topping the Loaf:
1 egg yolk whisked with 1 tablespoon of water
2 tablespoons of pesto in reserve
Sprinkle of salt and a few cracks of black peppercorns
1/8 cup of fresh parsley chopped or dried parsley
¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons of pine nuts
Directions
DIRECTIONS:
DIRECTIONS FOR THE BASIC DOUGH:
1Put all of the ingredients into the the bread pan in the order indicated in the ingredients section and select the basic dough setting.
2While the machine is making the basic dough, you can make a pesto if you like.
DIRECTIONS FOR PESTO:
3Put all of the ingredients except the olive oil into a food processor and pulse until everything is finely chopped.
4With the food processor running, slowly add the olive oil until you have a paste-like consistency.
FINAL ASSEMBLY DIRECTIONS:
5Remove the dough from the bread pan and place onto a floured counter top surface.
6Roll the dough out to about a 20 x 20-inch sheet. Let the dough sheet rise for 15 minutes.
7Spread the pesto onto the surface of the dough and roll up the dough sheet.
8Place the pesto roll onto a buttered baking sheet in an “S” shape and let rise for 20 to 30 minutes.
9Glaze the dough with the whisked egg yolk and water glaze.
10Spoon a line of pesto along the top of the pesto dough.
11Sprinkle the pesto dough with the salt and pepper.
12Sprinkle the parmesan over the top.
13Sprinkle the parsley over the top.
14Gently press the pine nuts into the sides and top of the dough loaf in a random pattern.
15Let final assembly rise for 10 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius.
16Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until browned.
AuthorSteve Nubie
