Pesto Bread

For those of you fortunate enough to have a lot of basil in your garden right now, this is a perfect summer bread.  I make fresh bread almost every day for my family using this super easy method but once in a while it's nice to stuff the bread with a savory filling.

When I make this, I don't really use a hard and fast recipe for the pesto, but I've written one up for you.  Pesto is so easy - a big handful of fresh basil, a garlic clove, a little scoop of pine nuts and some grated cheese and olive oil.  Make it into a paste by either chopping by hand (I like my mezzaluna) or whirling it all up in your food processor.  I do like doing it by hand sometimes because the texture has such a rustic feel to it.  The food processor, or course, is much faster.  No time to make pesto?  Use a store bought version and you'll still have a very tasty bread.  

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Italian Easter Bread, Revisited

When I first posted the recipe for Italian Easter Bread three years ago, I couldn't believe the response. Every year as Easter approaches, I still get many e-mails about this recipe, so I thought I would make it again in a little different way and this also gives me the chance to update the recipe a little.

This bread is a sweet, delicious bread and so kids love it.  When I've made it for my kids I've usually topped it with colored sprinkles and eggs dyed different colors.  This year, I made golden eggs and topped the breads with Swedish Pearl Sugar from Lars, which doesn't melt when you bake the bread and looks pretty. 

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Stuffed Focaccia Bread with Sausage and Onions

You're going to love this recipe.  This stuffed focaccia is so delicious and such a crowd pleaser. It begins with my old standby focaccia recipe, the one I've made for 15 years, from Carol Field.  I make this bread so much that I don't even need the recipe anymore.  I take the dough, divide it in half and put one piece in a spring form (cheesecake) pan. I make up a stuffing of turkey sausage and plenty of onions and fill the pan and then lay the rest of the dough on top. I make mine spicy with the addition of a habanero chili, but you can certainly leave that out. You can really stuff it with anything you like - swap out the meat for lots of vegetables, like roasted peppers or mushrooms, if you want a vegetarian version. 

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