Sausage And Cheese Baked Into Bread

Sausage And Cheese Baked Into Bread

The flood repair continues in the neighborhood. One neighbor already stripped the drywall. and was power washing his lower level. He then placed several industrial fans inside that he rented to dry it out. My housemates are finishing the removal of drywall in their house and are working to clean the possessions they could salvage.

Our dinners are still large affairs. Last night we decided to have stuffed peppers for dinner. I made fourteen of them. We had a bunch of leftover burgers and we figured that was a good way to use that up. I was thinking of something to go with that when I remembered we had some Italian sausage left as well. I decided to do a bread with kind of a calzone feel to it. Here’s what I did.

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbs. instant yeast

1 tsp. sugar

2 tbs. olive oil

1 cup (approximate) of slightly warm water

3 leftover Italian sausages, chopped

1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese

1 can Ro*Tel tomatoes

Corn meal

More olive oil for brushing

Sea salt

Preparation

Mix the bread dough together by adding the flour, salt, sugar and olive oil to the mixing bowl of your Mix Master (or whatever you use). Start the dough hooks going and add the water. Adjust by adding a little flour or water as you bring the dough together. Let the dough rise for about fifteen minutes.

Using your fingers, work the dough into a big 18” circle as if you were making a pizza. Place the cheese on half of the dough, but leave the outer edge uncovered. Add the chopped sausage over the cheese. Use a large spoon and evenly dab on the Ro*Tel tomatoes.

Fold the uncovered half of the dough over the covered half and roll/crimp the edges to seal the bread. Slide the bread on to a baking sheet that has a generous sprinkling of corn meal. Allow the bread to rise while you pre-heat the oven to 425º. When the oven is ready brush on lots of olive oil over the entire surface of the bread. Cut several slits into the bread to let steam out. Sprinkle on a touch of sea salt. 

Bake on a middle rack of the oven until the bread is nicely browned on top. Remove the bread from the oven and brush on lots more olive oil over the entire surface of the bread. Let it sit for five or ten minutes before slicing.

Serving

Serve this bread with stuffed peppers, a big plate of sliced vegetables, a crisp salad, and a fruit salad. Open several bottles of Italian red wine and ring the dinner bell.