Return of the pesto bread

A week ago I wrote about my deep love of pesto, my failed attempt at making pesto bread, and how much I hate failing. When I fail at something, I have to keep trying at it until I give up or succeed. Tonight, I made my third attempt at bread, and this time I succeeded, with delicious, delicious results.

I knew the bread would at least rise after I mixed the yeast with warm milk and sugar. I microwaved the milk and used a candy thermometer to make sure it was 110°ish Farenheit. This is what the recipe suggested and in keeping with what the Internet seemed to agree on. It seems pretty obsessive to measure the temperature of the milk, and normally I wouldn't, but I really wanted the bread to turn out right.

As you can sort of see in the picture, the yeast became kind of chunky and had a few bubbles in it after sitting for a little under ten minutes. It smelled kind of funny, and that's how I knew it was ready. This time I woke the yeast up without killing it. On to the next step!

I added the olive oil and salt and whisked it. I think I used too much salt and will probably use less next time. Then I added  flour by the half cup and mixed with a wooden spoon. I used half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour: I like using some whole wheat flour in recipes because I think it adds extra texture and flavor.

I kneaded in the last half cup of flour, making sure to turn the dough around as I kneaded to guarantee it was well-mixed.

(As a side note, kneading dough is one of my favorite parts of baking. I used to beg my mom to let me do it, and usually she would let me have at it, at least until she needed to get a move on and properly knead it. I was not a strong child. Also, kneading dough is about the best salve for an angry mood that I can think of. It's all about punching things. And then you get bread!)

After the flour was incorporated I rolled it in a little olive oil, threw it in a bowl, covered it with plastic wrap, and went to Michael's for craft supplies with my roommates. (Lots of homemade Christmas presents in the works, which means lots of blog material for me. Phew!) When I came back, the dough had at least doubled in size.

Success! Since the dough had risen this time, I rolled it out on a floured countertop in an approximately rectangular shape and spread about a third of a cup of pre-made pesto sauce over the dough. (I used Trader Joe's Genovese pesto — if I had basil I would've made my own!) I can never say no to pine nuts/pinolis, so I sprinkled a handful of those on top as well. I covered this mix with about a half cup of parmesan cheese.

I folded the edges in then rolled the dough up like a jelly roll cake. I decided not to try and braid it like the recipe suggests, so I put it straight in a bread pan. I sprinkled a little parmesan on top for decoration.

I covered the bread and waited for about an hour to let it rise again while I went and ate dinner and watched an episode of Voyager and convinced my housemate that no one we know will die of Type 2 diabetes (unless, of course, they continue to eat what I'm cooking, but I left that part out).

When it rose back up I put it in the oven and baked for just barely under half an hour — the top was turning golden brown and I didn't want to crisp it. I put it on a metal rack to help it cool, and after about 45 minutes I dumped it out of the pan and sliced into it.

  

Delicious! And it's pretty attractive to look at, too!

End thoughts?

• I need to be cautious when working with yeast.
• Bread takes a lot of time. I was doing other things, but from start to the time I bit into it was probably about four hours. An oven is no bread machine, and I need to remember that.
• I need to watch my salt content. I think I added too much salt in the beginning, and next time I will add less salt, and probably less olive oil, especially since there's so much in both pesto and the parmesan.
• Next time I'll try braiding the bread so it's more of a pull-apart style, and maybe using mozzarella cheese instead of parmesan.
• I'm really bad at photographing food. (But I'll get better!)

Here's the recipe, for those few following along at home. I wrote this one down a long time ago and don't know the source, but I certainly didn't invent it myself. Enjoy!
Pesto Bread
Ingredients:
Dough:                                             Filling:
1 cup warm milk                              1/3 cup pesto
2 tablespoons olive oil                      1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon dry active yeast
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour

1. In a large bowl, combine warm milk, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Add the olive oil and salt.
3. Add in a cup of flour and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add in another cup of flour and do the same.
4. Sprinkle a half cup of flour onto a flat surface and pour out the dough on top. Begin to knead and slowly add in more flour until the dough no longer sticks to the table. This will take about eight to 10 minutes of kneading.
5. Add a little olive oil to a large bowl (about a tablespoon). Place the kneaded dough into the bowl and turn over a few times to lightly coat all sides of the dough.
6. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for an hour or until doubled in bulk.
7. Pour out the dough onto a very lightly floured surface. Roll it out to a 9 by 14 inch rectangle.
8. Spread the pesto on top of the dough and sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.
9. Bring in the side by a half inch and then roll the dough like a jelly roll.
10. Pinch the seam closed. Take a sharp knife and cut the dough down the center length-wise, splitting the log in half.
11. Open the roll exposing the inside of the roll. Take the two cut pieces and braid them together with the cut side always facing up.
12. Place the bread into a greased bread pan. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow to rest for an hour or until double in bulk.
13. Sprinkle the top with more parmesan cheese and place into a preheated 375F oven for 30 to 35 minutes.
14. Check the bread about 10 minutes before it's finished to see if you need to cover with tin foil if they are getting too brown.
15. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.