Christmas Notebook

Yesterday, for supper, I made this pizza braid. So good! Everyone loved it. We’ll be making it again.

I must say, I altered the recipe a bit.

The dough recipe was as follows:

1 pkg. (1 scant T.) yeast
1 c. very warm water
1/4 c. sugar [I used 2 T. sugar…I didn’t want the pizza crust to be too sweet.]
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
2 T. butter [I used 2 T. olive oil instead of butter]
3 c. flour [I added 2 T. ground flax and 2 T. wheat germ.]

I didn’t do anything like this filling…

1/2 lb. ground beef
2 oz. pepperoni, sliced in quarters
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 chopped green bell pepper
1/2 can mushrooms, chopped
8 oz. tomato sauce
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

Instead, I spread some crushed tomatoes down the middle of the bread. I sprinkled the tomatoes with dried basil, dried oregano, and garlic powder, then spread 2 cups of mozzarella over the tomatoes before braiding the bread. You could use just about any kind of filling in this. Next time, I want to make the filling with hamburger, taco seasoning, and cheddar cheese.

You can visit this site for pictures to guide you through braiding the bread. The site has lovely and helpful pictures. And it’s very easy to do. It makes a great meal and one your kids would love to help you with.

~~Rhonda