«  
  »

Secret Recipe Club: Pesto Swirl Bread

By Eliot, on October 24th, 2011

Secret Recipe Club
Here is my fourth posting with Secret Recipe Club.  This club, hosted by Amanda,  Angela,  Tami,  and Tina,  is a great way to expand your foodie horizons and explore different blogs.   The premise is that you will be assigned a “secret pal,”  you explore your new friend’s site, and then secretly bake or cook away with one of your new pal’s recipes.   I have had great experiences in my previous assignments (see below). Since it is a secret club, I had always been careful when lurking exploring around each new site.

Then, came my assignment for this month—I was assigned an old friend, Veronica at My Catholic Kitchen.  Veronica was one of the first people to comment and follow my site.  (She always leaves the kindest comments!)   I had been following Veronica’s blog and admiring her recipes for quite some  time.    In order for me not to give anything away, I kept my usual habit of reading and posting comments at My Catholic Kitchen.   No lurking about this month.  🙂

So, here goes this month’s SRC “gush-fest.”   I love her short, concise posts and her fantastic recipes.   I also admire her sense of family and her faith.   Her tastes seem to be quite eclectic and one can find great recipes (and pics) for everything from Lemoncello  to Venison Stroganoff.   Her cast of characters includes  “The Hubster,” daughter “Monkey Girl,” and a neurotic rescue dog.    I think I enjoy her site so much because Veronica blogs for Veronica.   She like to cook, so she does.   She likes to photograph food, so she does.   She writes, “Just like my cooking, sometimes the pictures are good and sometimes they are bad.”   More often than not, Veronica, they are pretty darn good!

I knew immediately what I wanted to make.  I’d  had  my eye on it for some time—I went straight for the  Pesto Swirl Bread.   Veronica was extolling her beautiful basil and since that is about all I could raise in the garden this year (basil and sweet potatoes, that is) , I had the ingredients for this pesto bread.   (The only change I made to her recipe was to use tomato-basil pesto.)

Basil and a bumble-bee.

Pesto Swirl Bread by Veronica from My Catholic Kitchen
1 1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry yeast
4-5 tablespoons homemade pesto
Pour the water in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook.   Add the sugar and yeast.   Let sit for 5 minutes to bubble up and prove.   Add the olive oil and turn on the mixer.   While it is running, add the flour and salt.   Allow it to knead for 5-8 minutes.
When the dough is finished kneading.   Place in an oiled bowl.  Allow to rise until double in size about one hour.   I mark my bowl to show me when it is doubled in size. The rise can be determined by the warmth of the room and how fresh your yeast is.   When the dough has risen, punch it down and roll it out on a lightly floured surface forming a rectangle approximately 12 x 8.

After dough has risen once, punch down and roll out into a rectangle.

Spread the pesto evenly over the rectangle of dough, then roll up the dough like a jelly roll.

My take on this bread---use tomato-basil pesto. To make it, just throw some dried tomatoes in the food processor with the basil.

I am pretty sure I used more than 4-5 Tablespoons! Love me some pesto, now!

(Start from the short side.)   Place in a greased loaf pan, with the seam side down.

Let loaf rise one more time.

Allow to rise 30-45 minutes or until double in size.

Preheat oven to 425.   Bake for 25-30 minutes or until loaf has risen and golden.

My pesto broke through a bit.

Turn out and cool on a wire rack.   Slice and serve.

This little device is the best for helping slice the perfect loaf. My mom gave it to me many years ago and I couldn't live without it.

A serrated bread knife fits through the slats, slicing the perfect loaf.

Tomato-Basil Pesto Swirl Bread

We absolutely loved this bread and snacked on it all weekend.  I hope that each and everyone of you go check out Veronica’s site.
You can check out my other SRC posts:
Please check out the other SRC member’s posts:



Clubs and Blog Hops, Garden, Recipes, What we're growing, eating, and doing.    
«  
  »

24 comments to Secret Recipe Club: Pesto Swirl Bread

«  
  »