Pizza Bread

If I had to choose one food to eat everyday for the rest of my life, I’m pretty sure it would be bread.  Maybe even this specific bread.  You see, I have had a very loving relationship with bread for my entire life with the exception of the 18 months we had a long distance relationship when I was carb free.  Skinny and beautiful?  You know it but absolutely miserable without the food love of my life.  I vow to never be carb free again.

This is a very simple beautiful bread using pizza dough; soft, tomatoey, garlicy, herby goodness.  Make your own, like I do using Lauren’s Latest Recipe, or use store bought.  Your choice.  No judgment here.  My Aunt Bessie, who taught me how to make pizza (a recipe I will share soon), purchased her pizza dough.  I remember standing at the table, staring at the towered plateful of pizza she had made for Christmas Eve dinner, strategically planning which pieces I would eat.  That plate sat at about eye level at that point in my life and I’d somehow have to convince someone to move it to the edge of the table so I could reach it.  I couldn’t trust anyone else to pick a piece for me.  They would just grab the top piece.  I had to be able to pick it.  Piece after piece of Aunt Bessie’s pizza.  Carbaholic if ever there was one!  (PS – remind me to tell you about Bonaduce bread someday.  Bonaduce bread was my very first carb love affair!)

If you don’t make your own, please try to get a good quality pizza dough.  I would start at your favorite pizza parlor and ask them if you can buy some uncooked dough.  To make a couple loaves of this you would need probably two small pizzas worth of dough.

For me, making dough (as well as pasta), is like therapy for me.  Only way way cheaper and with a tasty result.  The repetitive motion of kneading can put me in a trance and relax me to the core.  Try it sometime.  Roll your sleeves up.  Get your hands in there.  Feeling the dough change from a sticky mess to smooth and elastic to a delicious carby hug is very satisfying.  You get to look at it and say, yup, I made that and it is a-maze-ing!

So here’s what you’re going to do…..  Using 1 recipe of Lauren’s Latest, let it rise once for an hour to double in size in a oiled covered bowl in a non-drafty somewhat warm location.  I turn my oven on the lowest setting for 10 minutes and then turn it off.  I completely wet and wring out a kitchen towel and place it over the top of the bowl and put the dough in the oven for an hour.  That usually does the trick.  Don’t get it too hot though because you’ll kill the yeast.  After the hour rise time I split the dough in half and put each half in an oiled bread pan with the dough pushed to the edges and allow it to rise again for about another hour until it has risen half way up the side of the pan.

While it is rising I take a good quality (I mean it; good quality) canned diced tomato and drain most of the liquid from it.  I mix it with 1 or 2 large cloves of garlic minced (about 1 tablespoon), oregano (1/2 tsp dried or some minced fresh if you have it on hand), basil (fresh is best ~ 3 or 4 large leaves minced), thyme (1 fresh sprig minced) and some salt and pepper.  Set it aside until it has risen.  Note ~ you do want to drain the tomatoes well.  Don’t let it be too soupy.  You won’t like the soggy result.  Trust me.

Preheat the oven to about 350*F (175*C).  Top each loaf with half of the tomato mixture.  Drizzle about 2tsp olive oil on each loaf and sprinkle each with a pinch of sea salt.  Pop in the oven for about 20 minutes or so.  One way to make sure your bread is fully cooked is to make sure the internal temperature has reached at least 190*F (88*C).  Use a digital thermometer.

Allow it to cool for a few minutes and then, go ahead, devour it.  You know you want to!  I sure do!