Pesto Cheddar Bread Makes a Savory Sammich

My tummy told me it was lunch o’clock, so I clocked out at International Headquarters. That means I walked from my home office to the kitchen. A brief inventory revealed meat and cheese but no bread. Old me would have decided to go to the grocery store and then ditched those plans en route, in favor of Burger King. New me Used-but-remodeled me whipped out the ingredients to make some pesto cheddar bread. Calm down, guys – it’s basically just fancy pizza crust.

Let’s do this. You can bake a lot of things with this simple recipe for bread or crust or biscuits. There are two basic ingredients and you can build from there with seasoning and shapes. You’ll need 1.) plain Greek yogurt and 2.) self rising flour. You want about twice as much flour as you have yogurt. Adjust the oven temperature according to how thick the bread is going to be. So if you’re making som big ol’ cat head biscuits, the temperature will be around 350°F,  so you can cook the middle without burning the outside. If you’re going to make pizza crust, the temperature should go a little higher, like 375°F for a thicker crust or 400°F for a thin crust.

For this particular recipe, I went with a medium crust and I added some pesto and parmesan into the dough. I was looking for it to come out of the oven looking like a sister to panini bread, but instead of grilling it, I put it under the broiler with cheese on top.

shellicooks-062017
Big bowl, big spoon, plain Greek yogurt, self-rising flour. Use twice as much flour as yogurt. Or half as much yogurt as flour. Your choice.
20170620_105711-747x1328.jpg
Do like Bob Marley said and “Stir it up, little darlin’.”
20170620_105731-1328x747
If you add parmesan/romano & pesto to the dough, it will add extra words to the blog title to make it sound like you are refined and experienced. That’s what I did anyway.
20170620_105833-1328x747
Tablespoon of each and…
20170620_110000-1328x747
Mush it all together
20170620_110022-1328x747
A little olive oil on your baking sheet. Just enough to coat it.
20170620_110041-1328x747
Slap that naughty dough onto the pan…
20170620_110425-1328x747
and give it a proper mashing until you feel it’s learned its lesson.
20170620_110436-1328x747
Medium thickness dough = 375°F for 12-15 minutes.
20170620_113054
Mmmm… that right there is a golden brown crust worthy of the most wanderlust-inducing of relief maps. Wait though before you double-knot your ascot, we’re not done.
20170620_113226
Sprinkle some pretty grated cheddar evenly over the top. (Or dump a bag out and then bulldoze it with your fingers like I did.) Then under the broiler it goes.
IMG_20170620_114259
Sweet mother of pearl, that glistening, bubbly cheese is the lava of my heart. I am so impatient at this point. But I have a goal.
IMG_20170620_115053
Yep, there it is. I sliced it like a pizza and added smoked turkey then paired it with fresh Florida watermelon. I would have used Arkansas watermelon, but we’re still ramping up our season. Enjoy and please comment with pictures of your efforts! 🙂
Unknown's avatar

Author: Shelli

MySaline.com, ShelliCooks.com, TheShelliPoole.com, FB.com/theshellipoole

One thought on “Pesto Cheddar Bread Makes a Savory Sammich”

Leave a reply to Thelma Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.