Who doesn’t want a fit flexible good looking body? We all will raise our hands. If the second question be, who wants to only eat healthy all year long to achieve that? Only few will raise our hands, I’m sure. At least I belong to the second category. Like majority I feel spooky to work out, I love to munch all day long and at the same time I want to stay fit. And for which I have to lose weight first.
Many people say losing weight is not any rocket science. But to a foodie like me it is more than that. And if you add the title blogger to that it is the perfect icing on the cake. Anyways, these days I’m trying to dig more to understand this ‘NASA’ fact in better way. I’ll gradually share what I’ve learnt with you all.
We all know breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But did you know that it is the biggest step to fix your weight? I dint 🙁 Also the portion control has a very important role to play in any weight loss program. Meaning you have to keep food going into your tummy time to time; Do Not leave your tummy alone!
Since today I’m talking about health so much I’m sharing a breakfast item to start your day in a healthy way. It’s braided bread but yeast free. Last week when I prepared Broccoli Pesto I already stuffed one entire rack of my refrigerator and as always I had to get rid of them before they expire. So I used that pesto as stuffing of the bread just to see how it works. Now I’m glad I had so much left over pesto and I stuffed the bread with it. And I realized, healthy stuffed bread doesn’t need to taste bad, in fact it tastes yummy.
Here is my easiest and yummiest Broccoli Pesto stuffed Braided Bread (yeast free) recipe for you all.
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Resting time: 00 mins
Total Time: 40 mins
Yield: 1 bread (8.5” x 4.5”)
Ingredients:
(Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature)
Pizza dough or bread dough (Homemadeor store bought)
Broccoli pesto: 1 cup (Homemadeor store bought)
Parmesan cheese: ½ cup (optional)
Egg white of 1 egg (optional)
Flour: 2 tbsp (for dusting)
Oil: 1 tsp (for greasing)
Water: 1 tbsp (at room temperature)
Equipment:
Rolling pin
Nonstick pan
Sharp knife
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| Reference: http://caloriecount.about.com/ |
Preparation:
You can make this braided bread with either homemade or canned Broccoli Pesto for this recipe but remember the fresher the Pesto is tastier the bread will be. The pesto needs to be fresh and moist but definitely not watery or dry. The Pesto& Pizza/bread dough should be at room temperature. (See Tips)
Preheat the oven to 1800C and prepare the loaf pan by greasing with butter and dusting with flour. Tap off the excess flour.
Sprinkle little flour on your kitchen counter/ rolling board and knead the dough lightly. Spread the dough by stretching with the help of your hands. Sprinkle more flour on the top and roll with the rolling pin. Add flour if the dough feels sticky. Roll out the dough into a rectangle or oval shape. Mine was not even near, so don’t panic on the shape; in the end it is the taste what matters. The thickness should be in between ¼” to 1/6”. (See Tips)
Spread the shredded cheese in a line in the middle. Top with an even layer of the pesto. (See Tips)
Now with a very sharp knife make inclined cuts with 1” width along on the sides of the rolled out dough. Be careful not to cut through the middle section with pesto. Take a look at the following picture for better understanding. (See Tips)
Now take two strips from opposite sides and place them over lapped on the pesto by maintaining crisscross pattern. Stretch the strips gently if necessary to seal the beneath layer. This method is called ‘braid the bread’. (See Tips)
To seal the edge gently fold and press the top and bottom section. Then braid with few strips on it. Brush off any excess flour, if present. (See Tips)
Separate the egg white and beat the white lightly with the water. Place the bread in to baking pan and brush with the egg white thoroughly. Do not press the bread otherwise the pesto will ooze out.
Bake the bread at 1800C for 20-30 mins or until bread is evenly colored and a nice golden brown crust is formed. Remove the pan from the oven and allow cooling down to handle. (See Tips)
Once the bread is a bit cool but still warm, cut into 1” to 1.5” slices and serve immediately with your favorite dipping sauce. I found Homemade Eggless Mayonnaise worked very well for me. I’ll share the recipe soon.
Tips:
1. As kitchen counter provides larger space, I prefer to work on it directly. Just go with your suitable place.
2. While spreading the pesto/cheese, make sure you leave enough space on both sides to braid the bread.
3. While making slits for braiding, make sure you cut equal numbers of strips on both sides. This will help to braid the bread with a neat and clean pattern. This will also help to seal the bread completely.
4. Don’t over stretch the strips to avoid tearing apart.
5. If the flour dust remain on the strips after baking those will look like blisters. So if you don’t want blisters on your bread, take care of that.
7. Don’t touch or try to cut the bread while it is hot. It is damn fragile now. Allow it to cool. Once it is cooled it will be firm.
Voila!! Enjoy the heavenly experience!
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you are making me hungry!
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omg such an fabulous braided bread looks so very appealing and loving the bright gree broccoli pesto filling 🙂 just too gud dear 🙂 awesome photography done !!
I totally agree with you Rimli, loosing weights for Foodies ( and on top of that – Food Bloggers ) is always challenging. I keep making and breaking resolutions every month ( or week, er… hours really )
the oncept of Broccoli pesto is really interesting, and the neat and inviting pictures have made this recipe worth book marking.. Pinned it already 🙂
so tasty looking bread.. Broccoli pesto is only way I can have this interesting vegetables.. So nice clicks
Hello Rimli! Beautiful bread! Thank you for sharing the recipe. Pinned it!