Stuffed Italian Bread Loaves Recipes

STUFFED ITALIAN BREAD LOAVES

Steps:

• Thaw the 3 loaves of bread.
• Brown ground beef and sausage in skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Drain.
• Add grated parmesan cheese. Mix well with meat.
• Remove from heat and cool.
• Add mushrooms, onions, bell pepper, black olives, green olives and mix well.
• Cut each thawed bread loaf into thirds. Will have 9 sections.
• Take one section of dough at a time and roll into rectangle on floured surface.
• Spoon about 1 cup of filling onto rectangle of dough.
• Top filling with 4 to 6 slices of pepperoni and 2 to 4 slices of mozzarella cheese. Your choice of how much to add.
• Brush edges of bread dough with egg whites.
• Fold 2 edges so they are overlapping. Crimp remaining edges with fork to seal.
• Bake Stuffed Italian Loaves on rimmed, ungreased cookie pan at 350 degrees until browned.
• Makes 9 loaves which after cooled can be individually wrapped in foil and frozen. Thaw in foil, reheat in 350 oven for about 20 - 25 minutes. I don't recommend reheating in microwave as bread may be tough.

ITALIAN STUFFED BREAD

Steps:

• Place dough in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Roll dough into a 17x20-inch rectangle about 1/4-inch thick on a large piece of parchment paper. Brush olive oil over dough; sprinkle basil and oregano on top. Layer mortadella, provolone cheese, capicola ham, Genoa salami, tomatoes, and mushrooms over dough.
• Roll dough lengthwise into a log. Brush the top with beaten egg; sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Transfer to a baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until puffy, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing.

STUFFED ITALIAN BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Mix melted butter, parsley, olive oil, and garlic together in a bowl.
• Slice bread diagonally without cutting all the way through; do the same on the opposite diagonal to create cube-shaped sections still attached to the bottom crust.
• Spoon butter mixture carefully between sections; stuff in shredded Italian cheese blend. Wrap loaf in aluminum foil.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes; unwrap and bake until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes more.

ITALIAN STUFFED MEATLOAF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine ground beef, eggs, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, herbs, garlic, onion, ketchup, Worcestershire. Mix well, gradually adding the milk (if it seems too moist, add bread crumbs until it is a consistency that will form a loaf without flattening. Spray a large baking or roasting pan with a non-stick spray and press the meatloaf out. Layer cheese slices and ham, covering the center line of the meatloaf, then close it together and tuck in the ends, forming a loaf which is oblong. Criss-cross the bacon strips to cover the loaf. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until the meat thermometer registers 160 degrees F.
• Let rest 15 minutes, then cut and serve. Gravy is optional.

STUFFED ITALIAN DELI SANDWICH

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Cut thin slice off top of bread loaf; reserve for later use. Remove bread from inside of bottom of loaf, leaving 1/2-inch-thick shell. Discard removed bread or reserve for another use.
• Spread half the pesto sauce evenly onto inside of bread shell; fill with layers of half each of the meats and provolone. Top with bruschetta. Repeat layers of meats and provolone; top with onions and peppers. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
• Spread remaining pesto sauce onto cut side of top of bread; place, cut side down, over sandwich, pressing firmly into sandwich filling to secure. Wrap tightly with foil; place on baking sheet. Top sandwich with second baking sheet.
• Bake 25 to 30 min. or until sandwich is heated through.

CHEESEBURGER STUFFED BREAD LOAF

Steps:

• In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add onion, cheeses, ketchup, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper; set aside. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and remaining salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Using a fork, stir in milk until mixture forms a ball. On a floured surface, roll out dough into a 15x10-in. rectangle. Spread meat mixture to within 1 in. of edges. Roll up, jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Pinch edges to seal. Place seam side down on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into slices.

STUFFED ITALIAN BREAD (TRADITIONAL)

Steps:

• Place yeast in 1cup warmed water and let sit for 10-15 minutes until it starts to foam.
• Dissolve salt in remaining 2 cups of warm water.
• Place 5 cups of flour in a large mixing bowl. Add yeast and salt mixtures and mix well. Dough will still be wet and sticky.
• Either continue kneading the dough or place it in an electric mixer with a dough hook.
• Continue adding flour until the dough forms a kneadable mass. At this point, it will pull away from the mixing bowl or kneading surface on its own. Typically, it's another 1-3 cups of flour.
• Once the dough has a satiny sheen and pulls away from mixing/kneading surfaces easily, knead for another 10 minutes, or knead with the dough hook in the electric mixer on low-medium for about 7-8 minutes.
• Remove dough from mixing bowl and place into an oiled bowl (olive oil works the best). Flip the dough once to coat the top of the dough as well.
• Allow the dough to rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 1-1,5 hours, until dough doubles in size.
• Once dough has risen, punch it down and knead again for either 5 minutes by hand or three minutes by machine. After re-kneading the dough, separate it into two equal portions.
• If you're running low on space, place both dough balls into the same bowl (oil it again with olive oil if you don't feel it's slippery enough).
• If you have enough space, place both halves into separate bowls, both oiled with olive oil.
• Allow the dough to rise again for about an hour (doubling in size).
• While the dough is rising its second time, it's time to start the filling.
• Combine the loose sage sausage , sweet onion, and raw pine nuts into a large skillet.
• Brown sausage mixture until cooked.
• Drain excess liquid/fat.
• Once the dough has risen for its second time, remove one ball of dough at a time, and roll out flat (a rectangular shape is preferred).
• In the center of the dough, place the cheese - roughly 3" in from any edge - right in the middle of the dough. Use half of the filling for each loaf.
• After the cheese is placed, layer the cheese with 1/2 package of spinach per loaf, and again with 1/2 of the sausage per loaf.
• Once all of the stuffings are laid in place, fold over the long edges of the dough, followed with the short edges. Squeeze/roll the edges flat - this prevents leakage of the stuffing, and seals the bread shut.
• Coat the wooden peal with corn meal.
• Flip the stuffed and closed bread over, presenting the untouched side as the top. Place both loaves on the corn meal coated wooden peal.
• Let the dough rise, covered, and in a very warm place, for another 40-50 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 (or 325, if you have a gas oven).
• Once ovens are hot and dough has risen, use a very sharp knife to make a slit down the top of the loaves - be careful and don't slice into the stuffing!
• Brush melted butter over the tops of both loaves.
• Once the loaves have risen again (I've gotten the best results after rising loaves on top of the heating oven), place in the oven to bake for 20-50 minutes. Since ovens vary greatly, keep an eye on your bread. It only took me about 20 minutes in a gas oven, on a baking stone, heated to 350 on the dial (which was more like 375 in reality). The bread is ready when the top is a nice golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when you thump on it. The crust will be crunchy and hard. The insides will be tender and moist.
• Once bread is done, remove from oven and allow to cool for 30-40 minutes before serving.
• To serve, slice into 1/2" wide slices. It's best served warm, but can also be warmed up in the microwave at about 15 seconds per slice, or in the toaster oven at 350 for about 5-7 minutes for as many slices as you can lay flat (or you could just toast it).