Stuffed Braided Bread

Want an elegant, company-worthy meal for your freezer? This is a great candidate! Ingredients are very flexible; ideas are given below for fillings.

• Frozen loaf of bread dough (5-6-inch size; full-loaf size)
• Filling ingredients of choice (see below)
• Olive oil or olive oil spray

1. Let dough thaw a couple of hours at room temperature; do not let it start to rise.
2. Roll dough out to a 9x13-inch size (roughly).
3. Spread sauce of choice down the center third of the dough (long-ways). Top with meat, veggies, and/or cheese.
4. Now comes the tricky part: cut slits on the sides up to the filling. Make sure there are the same number of strips on each side of the filling. "Braid" the strips up over the filling, tucking in loose ends and wrapping the final piece or two under the bread. Can be baked right away or frozen.
5. To freeze: flash freeze on cookie sheet until firm. Then, wrap in saran wrap and again in foil. This can be hard to move if you've stuffed it quite full; you might consider filling it and braiding it on a saran wrap-lined cookie sheet. Once frozen, you can just bring the ends of the saran wrap up over the bread.
6. To thaw: Thaw overnight in the refrigerator (bread does not need to rise).
7. To bake: Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until hot and bread is lightly browned.

Serves roughly 4

Filling Ideas:

Marinara Sauce
Cooked chicken, sausage, ground beef, and/or bacon
Peppers, onions, and/or mushrooms
Shredded cheese

Alfredo Sauce
Cooked chicken and/or bacon
Spinach or chopped cooked broccoli
White cheese (Parmesan, Mozzarella, etc.)

Sun-dried Tomato Alfredo Sauce
Cooked chicken
Sun-dried tomatoes
Parmesan