Pesto bread Swirl

Completely worth getting your hands a little dirty - this spectacular-looking bread is really stunning and delicious. Who doesn't like pesto?

I got the idea of making the bread in the shape of a swirl from a chocolate babka I once made, it looked awesome and once you have the technique (and the dough), you can make a gorgeous swirl with any filling you like, savory or sweet.

It can be a little messy near the rolling but have the baking tray lined with baking parchment close by and all you need to do once you have made the swirl is to quickly haul it onto the prepared tray and it's done.

To make sure you know exactly how you know exactly how to roll the dough and make it into this shape, watch videos on how to make a chocolate babka on Youtube. The method is exactly the same, the only difference being the filling.

Ingredients

• 250 grams of strong white bread flour

• 1 teaspoon / 5 grams of dry active yeast

• 1 teaspoon / 5 grams of salt

• 1 teaspoon of white sugar

• 4 tablespoons of olive oil

• water

• 120 grams of pesto (about 3/4 of a jar)

• 1 clove of garlic finely chopped

• Milk to make the bread golden

Instructions:

1. Place the flour + yeast + salt + sugar in the bowl of your stand-mixer and mix a little.

2. With the dough-hook fitted on, add in the olive oil and add in some cold water little by little until a dough forms and leave for 5 minutes.

3. Knead your dough with the dough hook for 6 minutes / 12 minutes by hand until the dough bounces back immediately when you poke it.

4. Leave for 1:30-2:30 in a warm place in a greased bowl covered with a tea towel.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with parchment.

6. Roll the dough into a long rectangle about 30cm x 60 cm. Spread the pesto on the rectangle in a thin but uniform layer and then roll the rectangle length-ways to get a long fat sausage. Cut the sausage in half length-ways to reveal two striped sausages. Intertwine the 2 sausages and then the place the "plait" onto the baking tray lined with with parchment paper .

7. Sprinkle with the chopped garlic and brush on a little milk and bake for 30-35 minutes.

8. Leave to cool and then serve.

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Bye Xxx