A tasty and relatively easy bread, this is great as a side dish or as part of a cheese board. It will take some time to prepare requiring time to rise as well as a decent amount of kneading. Bu its well worth the effort. Making your own pesto is a worthwhile step it gives a freshness that you won’t get from store-bought alternatives. Its important that the dough is kneaded thoroughly to get the texture just right.
Cheesy Pesto & Mozzarella Pull Apart
With decadent melted cheese and fresh pesto this pull apart loaf is a great as a side or as an accompaniment for a cheese platter.
Ingredients
- 7 g sachet dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons caster sugar
- ½ cup room temperature water
- 2 ¾ cup bread flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- 25 g melted butter
- 1 bunch basil
- 50 g pine nuts
- 50 g parmesan
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 200 g mozzarella roughly diced
Instructions
- To start making the dough, combine the sugar, water and yeast in a small jug. Stand covered in a warm place for 10 minutes.
- Sift flour into a large bowl, mix in the salt. Add the yeast mixture, milk and butter then combine to form a dough.
- Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough until smooth and elastic (10-15 minutes). Cover and set in a warm place for 1 hour to rise.
- While the dough is rising, combine the basil, pine nuts, parmesan, olive oil and garlic in a food processor and blitz to make the pesto.
- Grease a deep 10×20cm baking tray. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead again until smooth.
- Roll the dough out into a rectangle shape roughly 15×25cm.Spread the pesto over the rectangular dough then toss over the mozzarella so it forms a relatively even covering.
- Roll the dough, starting on the long side into a swiss roll shape. Lightly flour a knife and slice the roll into 10-12 even sized pieces.
- Gently shape pieces into balls and arrange in the base of the pan to form two layers, leaving some gap around the outside. Cover and rest for 30 minutes in a warm place.
- Preheat oven to 180°C (fan-forced) or 200°C (conventional). Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool on a wire rack before serving.