Pesto-French bread roll

This was a dinner item that I baked last week that was a big hit in our house. If you love pesto on bread, this is a nice presentation, nice enough for potlucks, dinners with invited guests, or to bring as a hostess offering at the next occasion.

I used a half and half whole wheat/white French bread dough (using this dough, 1/2 of a recipe), and homemade pesto.

To make the Pesto Roll-up:

Make one loaf of French bread dough. Just before forming, have your pesto (about 2/3 to 3/4 cup), ready to go. Roll out the bread dough to about the size of a sheet of school notebook paper (9 X 11 inches, roughly).

Spread the pesto on thickly, leaving a margin of about 1 inch of dough, uncovered along one of the long edges.

Roll the dough up tightly and pinch the seam. Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Allow to rise until double in bulk. Bake at 400 degrees F, until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.

After a brief cooling, slice into nice rounds, revealing the pesto swirl.

My daughters and I had a sample of a similar bread offered at a local farmer's market. This vendor's bread used just chopped basil, with none of the other ingredients of traditional pesto (garlic, Parmesan, nuts, parsley). We think our own version was an improvement on the farmer's market bread. :-)

A small gift

This is one of the African violets that I grew from a stem cutting. I brought it with us as a gift to my father-in-law and his wife, yesterday when we drove up for a visit.

I wanted to show you how I put together a simple but nice presentation.

After pulling off all of the poor-looking leaves, I used a pink plastic shopping bag for a waterproof wrapper. I cut a square out of the pink bag, just big enough to cover the pot entirely, and for the four pink corners to fold out to embrace the plant nicely. The plastic is held onto the pot with a rubber band, and a ribbon tied on top of the rubber band. Very simple.

The African violet took 2 full years to grow from a single leaf to a full plant with blossoms. I have one more of these cuttings-turned-plant to give away. Looks like I'll be needing to take a few more cuttings this fall.

Anyway, just thought I'd show you how it all came together.