Turns out my “pizza perfect pesto” recipe also does a great job in bread. I was making some soup and thought a savoury bread would be a nice side. That sounds a lot better than “I bought basil at the grocery store and couldn’t recall what I needed it for”.
I used this recipe as a guide, but simplified it even more. They recommend adding flour to your pesto and adding pine nuts separately. Frankly, too fussy. Instead I just dumped a generous 1/3 cup of my pesto into the machine at the second kneading cycle. So.much.easier.
It comes out of the bread machine with a pretty green swirl in the middle. I think this would make a great summer bread when you’ve got tons of fresh basil. Ah… summer.
Easy Pesto Bread
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water
- 3 cups unbleached white flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
- generous 1/3 cup of pesto
- Measure all ingredients into the bread machine (except for the pesto).
- Select white bread cycle and light crust
- Add pesto at the nut/raisin signal or the second kneading cycle.
