Today is a snow day. We don’t get many of them here in North Carolina, so when we do we want to savor every snowflake and enjoy our time immersed in a winter wonderland.
For me, the best part of a snow day is that everyone is home and housebound.
Monopoly !!!!
Out that familiar box came, we picked our tokens and let the games begin, but not before…
I scoured my cookbooks looking for the perfect recipe that would warm the house with wonderful smells and provide fun food for when a break in the game came.
I found it- the perfect recipe, and I had all the ingredients (most important factor), Basil and Garlic Pizza Bread from my trusted Fannie Farmer Baking Book.
The recipe makes one rolled loaf with a center pinwheel of cheese-and-herb-filled tomato sauce.
Dough
1 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast
2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Filling
3/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 T crumbled dried basil
1 tsp. crumbled dry oregano
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
To make the dough: Stir the water and yeast together in a large bowl and let stand to dissolve a minute or two. Add the olive oil, salt, pepper, and 2 cups of the flour. Beat vigorously until well blended, then add enough flour to make a manageable dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, knead for a minute or two, then let rest for 10 minutes.
While the dough rests, make the filling: Combine the tomato paste, olive oil, garlic salt, basil, and oregano, and blend well. Set aside.
Resume kneading the dough until it is smooth and elastic, adding only enough flour to keep it from being stickly. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double in bulk.
Punch down the dough, and on a lightly floured surface, roll it out to a rectangle about 9×16 inches. Spread the tomato mixture evenly on the dough, then sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Roll the dough up, beginning at the short end, and pat into a loaf shape. Place in a greased bread pan, cover, and let rise to the top of the pan. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack.
Whimc’s Way:
You know I can’t leave well enough alone, I have to make it MINE!
I substituted the a flour for whole wheat, I am trying to eliminate white flour from my diet as much as possible. I didn’t have a block of parmesan cheese so I used the dry type in a shaker can and I mixed in some fresh mozzerella to that. Also, who can pull a fresh loaf of bread out of the oven and let it cool on a rack!!!! Not my house, we pulled that baby out of the oven, let her cool for a few minutes so we could touch it and then with our big bread knife we sliced beautiful pieces in the middle of our Monopoly break, we were all ready for a break at that point.
This is a delicious bread, I give it 3 YUMS!
In My Apron 
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