Stuffed Italian Bread Traditional Recipes

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.

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).

ITALIAN STUFFED BREAD

Steps:

• Thaw out bread dough.
• Dice a green pepper and onion (I make my pieces very small).
• Roll out dough on a floured surface.
• (your dough should be just wide enough to put your meats on) Stack the dough with a layer of each meat, cheese, and vegetable.
• bring edges of dough together.
• Using a little water will help the dough stick together.
• Be sure you leave no cracks in the dough, or your cheese will run out when cooking.
• Bake at 350 until golden brown (usually about 20-26 minutes depending on your oven and thickness of dough).
• enjoy!