Bread has become such an integral part of my family’s life and ever since I have started baking breads, I just love to try out different combinations and flavors. To this date, my favorite bread is the Semolina bread. I can just not get over the texture of this bread as it so soft in the inside with a lovely crust. When I saw this Pizza Swirl Bread bread being mentioned as bread for the ‘We Knead to Bake’ group, I wanted to try it out as we love pizza and bread. Making the pizza as a loaf of bread sounded really interesting and that is how This bread uses a basic pizza dough recipe as the base and I kept the stuffing pretty simple with just the pizza sauce and the cheese. I would definitely add more vegetables next time I make this bread. The bread was made up as a meal for us and we just enjoyed slicing it and eating it for dinner. The rolling of the dough and then shaping it was quite messy, but the result was amazing as we can see the swirls of the pizza sauce in the bread and the flavors were just amazing. If you are looking to bake savory bread, I would definitely recommend trying this pizza swirl bread. The pizza-loving kids would love this bread with a dollop of butter. Preparation time – 20 minutes plus 2 hours of rising timeBaking time – 35 to 45 minutesDifficulty level – mediumRecipe adapted from – Food 52
Ingredients to make the Pizza Swirl Bread – (makes 1- 9 x 5 standard loaf)
For the pizza (bread) dough –
All-purpose flour – 3 to 3 ½ cupsActive dry yeast – 2 ¼ tspSalt – 2 tspSugar – 1 tbspOlive oil - 2 tbspWarm water – about 1 cup
For the topping –
Pizza sauce or smooth marinara sauce – ½ -¾ cupOregano – 1 tspRed pepper flakes – 1 tspMozzarella cheese – 1 cupParmesan cheese – ½ cupOil – to grease the pans
Procedure to make the Pizza Swirl Bread –
To make the dough –
In the bowl of the mixer or a large bowl, add the warm water, sugar and yeast and mix. Let the yeast rise for about 5 to 10 minutes. You will see that the mixture is bubbly after about 5 minutes.
To this add the salt and the olive oil and then with the mixer running, slowly add the flour, one cup at a time.
Increase the speed and let the mixer knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. It takes about 8 to 10 minutes for me.
Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover well. Let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for about an hour to an hour and a half until it has doubled in volume.
To shape the dough –
Once the dough has risen, place it on a floured surface and gently punch it down.
Roll the dough out to a rectangle, roughly about 12 inches x 16 inches.
Grease a loaf pan well with oil and keep it ready.
Evenly spread the pizza sauce all over the rectangle. Sprinkle with oregano all over the sauce and then sprinkle the cheeses evenly as well.
Now roll the dough as tight as possible in a jelly-style roll. Pinch the edges and the seam well, so they don’t open up when rising.
Fold the log in half (like a U) and then twist the sides over each other (like a braid).
Place this carefully in the greased loaf pan and let it rise again for about 30 to 45 minutes or until doubled.
Baking the Bread –
Towards the end of the rising period, preheat the oven to 350 F.
Brush the risen dough with olive oil and then bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.
Let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then carefully remove it from the pan and cool it completely on a rack before slicing.
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