There is nothing quite as wonderful as the smell of fresh bread baking – unless of course it’s the first warm bite with butter dripping off your chin!!
We bake almost all of the bread the family eats – partially because it’s better for us – but mostly because it’s so much cheaper!
On bread baking day during the winter months we like to have soup for supper with our fresh bread. But in the warm months – we often make a sandwich loaf.
This week’s was a pizza loaf – but you could fill it with anything you wish. (My sister made a yummy ham and cheese version that she shared at a recent family get-together.)
The process is simple.
Take a hunk of dough – the equivalent of about 1 loaf (you can use frozen bread dough for this) and roll it out on into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick on a greased cookie sheet.
Take a knife and very lightly score the bread into 3 sections lengthwise. There should be 3 long skinny sections.
Working on the outside sections, take a knife and cut slits diagonally from the outside edge to the scored line – making cool little dough fringe .
Do this to both outside sections.
Now look at your middle section – and get creative.
Pile it with whatever toppings you wish, leaving about an inch at the top and the bottom.
Here’s some filing ideas – but don’t be limited to these – this is a great way to be creative with your left-overs:
- Spread the dough with butter, sprinkle with some garlic and layer ham and cheese
- Pizza – pizza sauce, pepperoni, sausage, ham, green peppers, onions, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, etc..
- Alfredo sauce with cooked chicken, ham, and swiss cheese
- Left-over barbecued pork or sloppy joe’s with some cheddar cheese
- Sliced steak with onions, peppers, and provolone cheese
- Go Mexican with seasoned ground beef, cheddar cheese, refried beans, and sour cream
When you have the filling all laid out – start closing in the loaf by pulling the bottom inch of bare dough up to cover the filling. Repeat with the top inch of bare dough.
Starting at the bottom, take one horizontal dough fringe from each side over the filling and cross them. Repeat until the entire loaf is “tied up”.
Cover with a clean cloth and let the loaf rise for about 30 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30- 40 minutes or until golden brown and the bottom is firm.
You should let it cool slightly (about 15 – 20 minutes) before cutting – if you can wait that long!
Enjoy!
I’ve linked this post at Mouth Watering Monday over at A Southern Fairy Tale, Tasty Tuesday over at Beauty and Bedlam, and Tempt my Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace.
Blue Jeans and Cotton Tees 
I know I would love living at your house because I love bread! This looks really good.
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Mmmm, crusty fresh bread! I love it. :~D
e-Mom @ Susannah’s {Kitchen} Aprons
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Okay we’ll bring the butter 🙂 hee hee
Really we need to get these crazy kids together. They have soo much fun together~
~Cinnamon
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This sounds delish. I’m wanting to start baking bread this summer and try to make it a habit that we keep up once the school year starts. Any tips or good, simple recipes? I don’t have a stand mixer – but I do have a bread machine.
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What could be better than bread fresh out of the oven with lots of butter! Especially the crust. And I need to remember to spray the crust with water now and then while the bread is baking. Makes a thicker crust, which I love!
Thanks for the comment on my site! 🙂
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I have just started making my own bread in the last month or so and love it! I definitely need to add this variation to my repertoire!
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That bread looks wonderful. I am imagining all sorts of wonderful sandwiches made out of it!!!
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As I type this, I have bread making in my bread machine. Now, I’m really ready for it to get done. 🙂 This sounds wonderful! I usually make bread by hand, so I’ll have to give this a whirl soon. Thanks for the great filling ideas!
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Oh, I love this idea! I’ve made a “pizza braid” before, but I’ve never even thought to use different sandwich fillers in there. What a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
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Yum! All those loafs sound so wonderful!
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I think you could roll up the cookie dough and slice it w/o a problem. My mom used to do a oatmeal cookie recipe that you did that too and they were always good–and easy to bake up any time you wanted! 🙂
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I LOVE making bread. We make most of ours too.
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This sounds delicious! I make a very simple (using refrigerated pizza dough) sausage bread. It only contains three ingredients: the dough, a pound of browned sausage and 2 cups of cheddar cheese. Everyone loves it! It would be so good with your homemade dough! Thanks for sharing!
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This sounds so good! What a great lunch or dinner idea!
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I completely agree – nothing better than the smell of freshly baked bread!
I’d love it if you’d stop by for a visit.
🙂
ButterYum
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