Fancy Stuffed Bread

Sometimes it's all about illusion in the kitchen. Very, very simple things can look spectacular and give the appearance that you are an extremely experienced cook when the reality might be quite different. Remember that commercial for Rice Krispie when the mom throws some flour on her face and makes her family think she slaved over that pan of marshmallowy treats? That's pretty much the story of the stuffed bread.

You can either make some really quick pizza dough, or buy a loaf of frozen dough and let it thaw for this recipe. Better yet, see yesterday's post and use some dough straight out of your fridge. Cover your kitchen counter with plastic wrap. Wet the counter just a little first so that the plastic wrap sticks to it, but stays dry on top. Roll out the dough into a rectangle, not too thin. Mentally divide that rectangle of dough into thirds, lengthwise. Put your filling in the center.

About the filling. When I make stuffed bread for breakfast, I use 6 eggs, scrambled, 4 slices of bacon, crumbled, some fresh parsley, a cup or so of shredded cheese and lots of pepper and salt. I cook the eggs and bacon the night before most of the time. Veggies are nice too, but they need to sweat it out first, otherwise your bread will be too wet. After you've put your filling of choice down the center of the dough, you're going to cut the outer thirds of the dough in strips, about an inch wide, trying to have a similar amount of strips on each side. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Starting at one end, start overlapping the dough strips over each other, alternating strips and pressing down a bit to make sure that the filling is nicely tucked in. When you get to the end, do your best to tuck the ends in and make it look cute. If you don't have an even number of strips, just fake it. Everyone will be impressed with your pretty braided bread, they won't notice. Make sure that both ends are pressed closed. Spray a large baking sheet or stone with oil spray and shape the bread into a loose half circle on the pan. Be careful while you are transferring it, but if you lose some filling, just tuck it back in. This is pretty forgiving, really. Brush the top of the bread with some milk and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper, to make it look pretty. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until it's nice and golden brown. Remove and cool on a wire rack. Do not cover it while it's warm or your bread will turn soft from the condensation while it cools. You'll be sorry. Make sure you serve it whole with a little knife so that everyone can see how pretty your stuffed bread is.

So there are endless fillings that you can stuff this bread with. Here are a few of my favorites:

Grilled chicken (2 c.)tossed with Buffalo sauce, chopped celery and onion, shredded cheddar and crumbled blue cheese. Football party fabulous.

Mashed potatoes topped with sliced turkey and spread with a little cranberry sauce. Serve with warm gravy. Weird and wonderful.

Sauerkraut, rinsed, drained and squeezed dry, cooked with onions and layered with kielbasa. Spread the dough with a little spicy mustard first. You'll love it.

Really, you can't go wrong. Use whatever you love as a filling. Have fun in your kitchen.

Local Strawberry Heaven!

We are blessed to live right down the road from the winter strawberry capital of the world, Plant City, FL. My husband grew up on these beautiful berries, and no matter where the USMC sent him, he could always tell if he was eating a Plant City berry. He knows the difference between a Sweet Charlie and a Camarosa strawberry. Whenever we go picking, the variety of berry is important to him. He never met a local strawberry that he didn't like, but because of his family's background in local agriculture, he likes to know. We love to watch the process of the planting and growing season, pray for the crops when the hard winter freezes hit and wait to see just how good the next strawberry season will be.

Last year saw an especially hard winter for our berry farmers, and a mix of conditions led to a market that wasn't particularly favorable for them. We saw an early U-Pick season, where many fields could be picked for free. We repeatedly harvested berries from a local field and paid a whopping quarter for each quart. By the end of last season we had picked over seventy quarts, freezing many berries for smoothies and shortcake. Then there was the jam. I'm not certain how many batches we made, but it was more than ever before in one season. My husband's sweet Granny taught me how to make jam (always one batch at a time) going on a dozen years ago. She could make something out of nothing, but jam is something she is famous for in the family. I'm so thankful for the blessing of learning from her.

This weekend, we've done just a little strawberry picking. Most have gone into the freezer, but we did make some strawberry milkshakes and a new recipe. Last night I tried my hand at baking a strawberry quick bread. I couldn't find a recipe that made sense to me, so this is the one that I came up with. Surprisingly, it came out nicely.




Strawberry Bread
4 c. fresh strawberries, sliced and some slightly mashed
4 eggs
¼ c. olive oil (traditional, NOT extra virgin)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. sugar, divided
3 ½ c. all purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two loaf pans. In a medium bowl, stir together strawberries, eggs, oil, vanilla and ½ c. of the sugar. Stir until the eggs are completely combined. In a large bowl add all dry ingredients (including remaining 1 ½ c. sugar). Mix dry ingredients together thoroughly. Stir strawberry mixture into dry ingredients, just until combined. Divide batter between greased loaf pans. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour, or until crust turns golden brown and passes the toothpick test. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.

If you try this yourself, please don't be scared if you check the bread while it's baking and it's a scary grayish color. By the time it's done, it's nice and pretty brown. Trust me.