Pesto Bread is a wonderful homemade bread for the breadmaker. This one has pesto flavors with parmesan cheese, basil, garlic and parsley. It's a terrific side dish for Italian main dishes, soups, chili or for company and holiday dinners.
1 pastry brush to brush bread with melted butter after baking
1 electric knife preferred, or sharp bread knife to slice bread after baking
Ingredients
1 1/4cupshot water
3tbsp.olive oil
1/2cupfresh parsleyor 1/3-1/2 cup dried parsley
1/2cupParmesan cheeseshredded
1tbsp.dried basil
1tbsp.granulated sugar
2tsp.minced garlicfrom a jar (or about 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced)
1 1/4tsp.salt
4cupsbread flourNOT all-purpose flour
1 1/4tsp.Fleishmann's bread flour yeastpreferred over Red-Star
Instructions
Layer in above order and put on normal bread setting - about 3 1/2 hours.
Allow bread to rest about 15 minutes before removing from bread canister.
Brush top and sides of bread with butter to prevent the crust from hardening.
Allow bread to rest an additional 15 minutes before slicing down into slices.
Makes about 15 half slices.
Notes
NOTE: Homemade bread has no preservatives. So after two days, store homemade bread in refrigerator to prevent mold.
NOTE: all-purpose flour does not contain the necessary gluten to bond the ingredients together as well as bread flour. The bread may turn out crumbly. For best results use bread flour.NOTE: I recommend using Fleischmann's yeast or bread machine yeast in any yeast bread recipe. Red Star yeast just doesn't work as well.