Magda Breads

Leftover pesto bread

pesto olive bread featured

I was always told you should never waste food. There are million dishes you can make with leftovers. I must say, I’m not always as good as I should. Sometimes I find something in the back of my fridge that can’t be rescued, but I work on it, so it doesn’t happen too often.

Last week I had a half of bag of spinach, that started to look poor. It wasn’t a salad day, so I decided to make quick pesto, I threw some olive oil, garlic, Parmesan and walnuts. I must say it wasn’t the best pesto I’ve made, but I had a few extra days to decide what I want to with it. It was used to make this bread.  Bread is beautiful solution for leftovers, it takes different ingredients gracefully. Pesto adds the colour and flavour. My swirls are creative as I was trying to do some fancy braiding, that didn’t work, well that happens, hopefully yours will work nicer and I will do another braiding test soon.

pesto olive bread-4252

Leftover pesto bread

Leftover pesto bread

The recipe adapted from “Dough” by Richard Bertinet
For a 9x28cm loaf pan

  • 500g strong bread flour
  • 20g coarse semolina
  • 2 tsp dry instant yeast
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 50g olive oil
  • 320g water, lukewarm
  • 4-6 Tbsp pesto
In a large bowl place the flour and semolina. With your fingers rub in the yeast on one side and the salt on the opposite (yeast get killed in contact with salt).
Add the olive oil and water and stir it with a wooden spoon until everything combines nicely.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel or cling film and let it rest for 30 minutes until it rises a little.
Knead it until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). You can use a stand mixer as well. Cover the bowl with a tea towel or cling film and let it rest for an 1-1 1/2 hours or until it doubles in size.
After the dough has rested turn out the dough into a lightly floured surface and roll it into a rectangle. Spread the pesto evenly on the dough.
Roll the dough like a jelly roll and place it in the greased loaf pan.
Leave it for an hour to rise or until it doubles in size.
At least 30 minutes before you plan to bake preheat the oven to 240°C.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden. The bread should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Cool the baked bread on the cooling rack.