Braided Spicy Pesto Mozzarella Bread

My family and I are all fans of everything bread, everything crusty that's bread (vienna rolls, ciabatta, focaccia, etc), and just about everything Italian that we've ever tried; even desserts.

Everyone knows what I am saying when I tell you that I'm always looking to try something new but will hit the right spots with "comfort", won't be too time consuming, and something that will be relatively easy to get Our Garden to at least try.

I make all sorts of breads from scratch and I do it often because I want that to be "normal" for them and something they can look back on in life and remember with love. I can't do a whole lot physically compared to other Mommas but, the things I can do, I'mna do the hell outta them for the ones I love most.

There is a serious issue of over production of stomach acid goin on in this house, so when we make Italian for family dinner there's always a "non red" option for sauce; usually a creamy pesto.

Everyone does the same thing with their bread when they eat pasta; leave a bit for the end so they can mop up the sauce on their bread. At least...that's what I've seen thousands of people do all of my life; so do we. I always wondered what bread would taste like with different sauces IN them. I mean...Parmesan Romano Vodka Bread sounds... TELL me you wouldn't at least TRY it.

You're lying.

That thought process is how I came up with the idea to make this bread. One of my favorite things about this bread is...the rise is only 1hr as opposed to 2h that a lot of my other breads need. Then there is the reality that basil is SUCH an aromatic, therapeutic herb/plant to begin with; how can you NOT want your whole house to smell like it?

Shall we get started?

The first thing you'll need to do is decide if there is already a basil pesto (they also make pesto out of sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, etc) that you LOVE (I have one it is dairy free!) or if you want to make it from scratch; if you want to make it from scratch you'll need to do that first. I will also include a pic of how to braid bread that I saw somewhere else (simply to save time because I forgot to take a pic of myself doin it).

Basil Pesto

2 c. basil, rinsed and packed

2 cloves garlic

1/4 c. grated or shredded parmesan

2-3 T. olive oil

In a food processor combine all ingredients and process until smooth. Set aside.

Braided Spicy Pesto Mozzarella

5 c. bread flour (yes! it makes a difference)

2 1/4 tsp yeast

2 tsp. salt

2 c. warm water 

2 T. honey

2 T. olive oil

2/3 c. shredded mozzarella

crushed red pepper flakes

 

In your stand mixer bowl or a large mixing bowl throw in your flour, salt and yeast; whisk to combine.

Add your honey and olive oil to the warm water and stir. Then pour all the wet ingredients into the dry, attach the dough hook, and start the mixer. Let it mix until combined and dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.

Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes.

After a rest, on a clean surface roll out your dough on parchment paper until you have a rectangle that measures approximately 18in x 12in.

Now is when you spread your basil pesto onto the dough, leaving 1/2in along the longest seam, closest to you (where I had the two rulers in the picture above this paragraph) without pesto on it. (This will make it easier to nip the roll shut after you roll this up.) Then sprinkle as much crushed red pepper flakes onto the basil pesto that you think the people eating it will enjoy. I had Our Garden to think of, so I stayed quite tame with the heat on this loaf.

After you've added as much of your pesto and red pepper flakes as you'd like, go ahead n sprinkle your mozzarella.

Now starting at the long seam, closest to you, roll this up just like you would if you were making cinnamon rolls. Pinch the roll closed all the way down the loaf when you finish rolling it. Then turn the loaf pinched seam side down onto the counter. Then take one end of the roll, pinch the end closed, and then fold it under itself so it sort of resembles a ball at the end. The seam on that ball will be on the bottom of your loaf along with the long seam.

Don't worry, the roll will look WAY too long at this point, but as you braid it...of course...it will become shorter.

Taking a sharp knife or a sharp pizza cutter, cut the roll lengthwise twice...so you have 3 separate pieces.

Turn each cut edge up so you'll see the beautiful green and cheese when the braid is done. Then you can begin braiding....if you've forgotten how to braid, here is a refresher.

When you've finished braiding your 3 pieces of dough, pinch the 3 ends together and fold it under the bottom; it'll look something like this.

Load the parchment paper with your braid onto a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet and place it in a draftless place to rise. Allow it to rise for 1hr.

When there is about 20 min left on the rise, preheat your oven to 350F. When the bread is done rising and the oven is preheated, brush the loaf with a simple egg wash.

 

Egg Wash

1 egg

1 T. water

Whisk together the egg and water and brush it onto the entire loaf right before baking.

Bake the loaf for 40-45 min or until golden brown.

My mozzarella got toasty, and I actually prefer it that way. Remove the bread loaf and the parchment to a cooling rack and allow it to cool at least 10 min before serving.

Our Garden wanted it with just a simple cup of my homemade pizza sauce to dip it in.

I'm an absolute cheese fiend, which does not mix well with being lactose intolerance but...don't judge. What I did with my slabs of bread was of course try it just the way it is when it comes out of the oven, and it was DIVINE. It was crusty on the outside, and SO soft on the inside. The pesto wasn't over powering and you didn't really get an overly high amount of heat out of the red pepper. It was fabulously balanced in flavors and textures.

But, I'm still a "cheesy garlic bread" kinda gal so...I put some butter, garlic powder, more mozzarella, and fresh cracked pepper on a couple pieces and tossed it back in the oven for a couple minutes. I dipped my bread slices into pizza sauce as well.

I don't like to leave fresh baked stuff to languish in the house, luckily it's so well liked it doesn't really happen anymore. The day after I made this loaf the Sprout asked for a pizza boat; all that means is I put pizza sauce right onto the bread, sprinkle mozzarella onto the bread, and bake it. The bread was gone in 24 hrs, and not a single crumb went to waste. I promise you, there's a lot of things you can do to this including maybe even putting something like pepperoni in this braid.

Whatever you decide to try, lemme know how you liked the bread and of course...enjoy!

Saw It On Insta....

Life's been pretty insane since the last time I published a recipe on here. The military moved us (again...just wait, it'll happen at LEAST two more times before my Mister is done...) to the east coast and we landed at a base that neither of us were very wild about so we ended up living a hefty commute from the duty station because we're not fans of urban nor suburban living anymore. We wanted property, peace, and space. When 2020 happened, we were enormously grateful and blessed what we went about finding our home the way we did; with sustainability, quiet, and rural living at the top of our "must haves" which we'd learned not to try to worry about in the last 15 yrs. Making it a priority this go 'round is something neither I nor my Mister have regretted when we listen to the news or catch a few headlines of happenings near the bases. No bueno.

 Home

 Mr. Cardinal

 

Double Summer Beauty

Autumn Remnants

Magnolia Janes, Spring's First Blooms

I've honestly never been happier with a home we've chosen and it allowed me to make the final jump into a world I'd been planning on being in since before we had children; homeschooling, but more about that venture some other time. The saddest thing I've experienced here is knowing that we may have to leave this year. We've reached our "time limit" at this duty station and either the Mister is movin' to a new job at a nearby base or they're gonna be sling shotting us 'round the globe to Lord knows where by July. If you're the praying kind....please put in a good word for us; we'd like to stay here in our little paradise.

Having more time on my hands than I thought I'd have now that we're homeschooling was also not expected. In my mind, I'd be losing it (my mind) most of the time and clamoring for time to myself at every turn. Not happenin'. Our Garden (Sprout, Sweet Pea & the Meant To Be) are well self contained units with learning and I hardly hear them or see them unless they need help or have a question. That's left me time to read scholarly studies, learn way more about CoV-2 than I ever cared to (my actual degrees are in the medical field), and treatements along with prevention measures. I'm so tired of that I could scream. I had to get creativity back in my life somehow. Stockham Hollow is still there with the homemade jams, jellies, fruit butters, baked goods, etc but I somehow added candles and scented bath salts to the mix and....still...not enough creating for my liking.

One of the new banes of my existence has come to be "autoplay" features on websites like Rumble, Facebook & YouTube; you watch something and BAM...it plays somethin else, and most of the time NOT something I would've chosen if left to my own devices. A couple weeks ago, however, this feature allowed me to stumble onto a recipe on Instagram that I just have not been able to get out of my mind.

Salted Caramel Biscoff Cheesecake. Yeah, you read it right. The original video was added as a clip to a dude who watches other people cook and then pretty much repeats "Lawd...okay, no...I'm gonna trust the process....trust the process..." (frankly...he GETS me) and then posts it to his Facebook page. But in the middle of one such video was an Instagram video of an English woman making Salted Caramel Biscoff Cheesecake for her husband. You can see the video of her making and assembling the cake here and watch her make the salted caramel she used in this recipe here. She has the amounts and methods in her videos for both recipes, but I'm not goin' to lie to ya, I followed her salted caramel recipe to the letter and it failed. Twice. So I employed America's Test Kitchen caramel recipe instead...which turned out on the first try.

You'll need a kitchen scale or access to a measurement calculator to make this properly. This is made in an 8 inch springform pan with the flat part facing upwards, so it's easier to fully cut the crust of the cheesecake when you're serving it. Hey....and for all you no fuss folk out there, have I mentioned this is NO BAKE?

It's no bake! Moving on to the good part...

Salted Caramel Biscoff Cheesecake

2 pkgs Biscoff cookies

1 bag of Biscoff cookie crumbs (at least 400mg crumbs)

165g butter, melted

300g heavy cream

2 T. organic cane sugar

3.5 - 8 oz bricks of full fat cream cheese

1 recipe of salted caramel sauce - cooled (at least 200g)

150g of Biscoff crumbs set aside for garnish

 

Salted Caramel Sauce

1 c. water

2 c. organic cane sugar

2 c. heavy cream

1-2 tsp. salt (depends on how salty you like it)

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Pour the water into a heavy bottomed 2 qt. pot then pour the sugar into the center of the pot; taking care not to let the sugar crystals stick to the sides of the pot. Cover and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat; once the mixture is boiling uncover the pot and continue to boil until the sugar syrup is thick and straw-colored and registers 300 degrees on a thermometer; it'll take about 7 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook until the syrup is deep amber and registers 350 degrees; another 1-2 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring the cream and salt (start with 1 tsp and see how that tastes to you...remember there's no seasoning in the cream cheese itself) to a simmer in a small saucepan over high heat (if the cream boils before the sugar syrup reaches a deep amber color, remove the cream from the heat and cover to keep warm).

Remove the pan with sugar syrup from the heat; very carefully pour about 1/4 of the hot cream into it (the mixture will bubble vigorously...dangerously so!), and let the bubbling subside.  Add the remaining cream, the vanilla, and lemon juice; whisk until the sauce is smooth. (The sauce can be cooled and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.)

Set the salted caramel sauce aside to cool before using in the recipe.

Now, line your springform pan with parchment, and arrange your cookies around the perimeter of the pan....like so

Won't lie, I used WAY more cookies than the original lady did in her recipe but I wanted to in order to cut the richness of the cream cheese filling itself. Also, like a thicker border and a thinner bottom crust typically. You can do what you like, this is one of the parts of the recipe a person can customize. Wanting a thicker border is why I bought 2 whole pkgs of the cookies AND crumbs as well, if the border of cookies were more spread out, you'd only need 2 pkgs of cookies for the whole shebang.

Pulverize whatever cookies you didn't use on the border and put it in a bowl on your scale, add more crumbs from the bag of crumbs until you hit 400g on your scale. Pour the 165g of melted butter into the 400g of crumbs, remember to reserve 150g of crumbs for garnishing later. Use a fork to stir the butter into the 400g of crumbs, the pour into the pan and pressdown with your fork. (This is where you control how thick you want your bottom crust to be, I like it on the thin side. You may not end up using the entire amount of buttered crumbs.) Set the pan aside.

In a large bowl cream the cream cheese until smooth. Then pour the cooled salted caramel sauce (at least 200g of the caramel sauce) into the cream cheese and blend well, then set mixture aside.

In a medium sized bowl pour cold heavy whipping cream and the sugar into a bowl, then with the whisk attachment on your hand mixer (I recommend you do ALL hand blender for this recipe, which I've never recommended before but with this it is just easier and faster than using my KitchenAid standmixer.) whip the cream and sugar into whipped cream.

Once that's formed into a loverly, thick whipped cream, fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese - salted caramel mixture with a large spatula until thoroughly incorporated. Do not use beaters or even attempt to do this with the whisk attachment, it'll take somma the "lift" outta your mixture and you don't want that with something that can end up being so dense already, like cheesecake.

Using a large soup spoon, place dollops of the cream cheese mixture on top of the crumb crust; use half of the mixture in this layer. Then, using a small spatula spread it gently into the cookie border...this helps stabilize that cookie wall. After you finish smoothing that mixture, sprinkle some Biscoff crumbs over that...as light or thick as you'd like, and drizzle with some of the salted caramel you've reserved. It'll look somethin' like this.

Then carefully dollop the remaining cream cheese mixture over that middle peek-a-boo of crumb 'n' salted caramel; use a small spatula again to smooth out the top of the cream cheese.

Following the simple garnishing directions in the video, I placed a light weight lid (she used a bowl) over a small salted caramel patch already drizzled in the center (under that lid) and using a small spoon, sprinkled remaining Biscoff crumbs between the upside down lid and the cookie wall.

 

Remove the lid and if there is any salted caramel sauce remaining, pour it into the center on top of the caramel patch already there, making it nice 'n' thick.

 

Slice when ready to serve. This could probably feed 10-12 sane people, or about 8 people who are willing to eat themselves into diabetic comas.

Biscoff cookies are something I can easily compare to speculoos; a crisp, melt in your mouth "spiced" Belgian butter cookie. I am a super fan of speculoos covered in a light coating of white chocolate, it tames the spices so well, its hard to believe it's white chocolate....which I normally don't go for. Biscoff, I hear, are served on commerical airplanes a lot these days. (I wouldn't know, I stopped flying in 2005.....reasons. *cough* TSA invasion of privacy *hack* *cough*) The salted caramel cream cheese filling does the same thing to the cinnamon in Biscoffs that white chocolate does to speculoos...takes the heat and intensity out of the cinnamon in the cookie and it tastes much more mild than you'd expect.

This tastes absolutely incredible. It's a winning combination, and for someone that isn't fond of cinnamon in her desserts, I can honestly say the cinnamon is so muted by all of the other flavors that I sort of forgot those cookies had cinnamon in them at all.

Now....changes. After making this recipe, cutting it, trying to plate it, etc I'm telling you there are two changes to this recipe and configuration that need to be made if and when I make this in the future:

First, I'd add MORE salted caramel sauce to the cream cheese/whipped cream mixture, double it to 400g of sauce. 

Second, I'd employ a square cheesecake pan instead and NOT stagger/fan the Biscoffs out; instead push them flush up against the side of the pan and secure them or turn all the cookies into crumbs and press it into a springform like you would for any other cheesecake you'd make. I'd use cut pieces of cookie to garnish the top only.

Other than that, I can safely tell you that this is a dessert that will wow any crowd, and be a new "fave" that people request for special occasions. The Scandahoovian in me feels compelled to say...if you're looking for a way to add lemon sauce to this (lemon curd with gingerbread cake is a staple at Christmastime on a lot of Scandanavian tables.) I can tell you with surety that substituting lemon curd in the cream cheese filling AND with the Biscoff crumbs will be another winning combo that people will love. The acid of the lemon will help harpoon the richness of the cream cheese filling in a way that will be hard to deny. Also...there is a distinct possibility pouring a packet of white chocolate Jell-o pudding into the cream cheese could have an interesting flavor combination. Sky's the limit!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and if you do decide to make it, lemme know what you think about it and what changes you made...  Happy cookin', folks!