cheese bread, 2 ways

In the winter, I serve plain ole cheese bread to accompany an Italian dish.  In the spring and summer, however, I have a little more to offer.  My basil plants are growing beautifully and were just begging to be cut back this morning.* I used my clippings for an almond basil pesto, which was then smeared onto 1/2 of the bread.


cheese bread, 2 ways


for the bread:
1 cup warm water
1 packet of rapid rise yeast
1 tsp salt
1 TB olive oil
2 cups (+ more as needed) organic flour


Pour warm water and yeast into bowl.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Stir in oil, salt, and flour.  Kneed for 5 minutes.  Add more flour until dough is not sticky.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.  Pour out onto a pan in either a round (pizza style) or rectangle (think breadsticks).  Let rise 15 more minutes.


pesto:
1 cup basil leaves, packed
1 clove garlic
3 TB olive oil
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup almonds


Place ingredients in a food processor and chop thoroughly.


Now put it all together:


Bake bread at 350 for 10 minutes.  Take out of the oven.  Add toppings as you like and bake for another 15 minutes.  I added 1/2 parmesan cheese, 1/2 pesto.  You can use the same dough recipe for pizza dough.

* when cutting back a basil plant (or any plant for that matter), use the rule of 1/3.  Always cut back by no more than 1/3.