Braided Spaghetti Bread

The school year is flying by! This week and next week I’m writing midterms, and that means that half of my coursework is done! It also means that I’m going out on another practicum in two weeks! The practicums are, by far, the best part of this university experience. The coursework is kind of a joke, and mostly tedious. 

I’ve also realized recently that Christmas is coming! I’m one of those annoying people who start Christmas shopping in January, and have it finished by August. But that means that I have all sorts of time for Christmas crafting!! I’ll be starting on that next week (after the midterms). 

Anyways, today I have a spaghetti recipe that looks pretty darned spiffy because it includes the garlic bread right in the dish. It’s braided spaghetti bread! 

This recipe was adapted from one found on rhodesbread.com 

Ingredients: 

• 1 canister of Pillsbury pizza crust 
• 6 oz spaghetti (that's about the size of a toony for us Canadians, for non-Canadians... umm... maybe the size of a checkers piece?) 
• Enough spaghetti sauce to coat the spaghetti without being sloppy 
• 250g block of cheese (half of the block in the photo above) 
• 1 egg 
• Garlic powder (not pictured)
• Parmesan cheese 
• Italian seasoning 

Directions: 

Cook your spaghetti until andante. Drain and stir in spaghetti sauce. At this point you also have the option to add some protein, be it ground beef, sausage, chicken, or tofu. Set aside and allow to cool slightly. 

Preheat your oven to 400°F. 

Look at how old that oven is! It’s a Lady Kenmore, oo la la. 

Anyways. 

Roll out the pizza crust on a sheet of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to about 12”x16” rectangle. It does not need to be exact. 

Cut your cheese into cubes, about 1”x1” 

Gently poor the spaghetti onto the center of the dough and top with the cheese cubes. 

Using a sharp knife, cut slits in to the sides of the dough up to the spaghetti. Space the slits about an inch apart, and make sure they’re even with the slits on the other side of the spaghetti. 

Fold the ends of the dough up and over the spaghetti, and pinch the seams to secure them in place. 

Begin crisscrossing the strips of dough, starting from one end and working your way to the other end. Make sure the dough overlaps in the middle so the spaghetti is completely enclosed. 

It looks like a spaghetti mummy! 

Use a pastry brush to brush egg onto the top of the dough, then sprinkle the top with garlic powder, parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning. 

Move the entire operation (parchment paper and all) onto a baking sheet, and bake for about 30 minutes. Then voila! 

Let the bread stand for about 5 minutes to cool, then slice it up and serve. I cut my bread into 6 delicious servings. 

Enjoy!