Braided Spaghetti Bread

The first time I saw this on Pinterest, I knew we had to try it.

Braided Spaghetti Bread.

Go to the website above. Their picture is MUCH prettier than mine.

Anyway, it had bread, spaghetti, and Mozzarella. What else could I possibly need?

Unfortunately, the day I planned on making it, I was running late. I ran to the grocery store, picked up the dough, then came home to find that it would take a while to thaw the dough. So into the freezer it went.

Finally yesterday was my chance. I put the dough in the fridge in the morning before I left for school.

When I was ready to cook, the dough was ready too.

Here is the recipe, followed by a few "sidenotes".

Ingredients:
1 Loaf Rhodes Bread Dough (12 Rhodes rolls can be used instead)...mine came three to a package. Thawed to room temperature.

6 oz spaghetti, cooked and drained (I actually used almost a whole 13 oz. box)

1 cup spaghetti sauce (I used closer to 2)

1 pound (or so) ground beef, browned (optional...that was my option :)

8 oz Mozzarella, cut into cubes

1 egg white

Parmesan cheese

Parsley flakes

Garlic Powder

Directions:
Take the bread dough and roll it out. This was the longest part of the process for me. I just had to really work with the dough. I think part of the problem was that I hadn't thawed to room temp; I had left it in the fridge. Roll it into a 12 x 16 inch rectangle. I recommend rolling on parchment paper or on a greased cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Okay, I totally forgot about the plastic wrap. But it worked fine anyway.

After the spaghetti is cooked and has cooled a bit, mix the spaghetti with the sauce and the ground beef (if using).

Remove the plastic wrap from the dough. Spread the spaghetti down the middle of the dough (about 4 inches across). Add cheese cubes on top of the meat.

Make cuts about 1 1/2 inches apart to about half of an inch within the filling. I found kitchen scissors to work very well to make cuts.

Fold the top and bottom strips toward the filling. Cross back and forth across, alternating each side. Pull the last strip and pull over the bread, tucking underneath.

Transfer the parchment paper to a baking sheet (I had done all of this on a sprayed cookie sheet...no transferring necessary).

Brush with the egg white, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool slightly, then slice.

This was a HUGE hit with the family; every one of them ate more than one helping. Even the really picky child. I was SOOO sad to not have any leftovers to take for my lunch today. I would have eaten it again, gladly. (I could have eaten the entire loaf last night by myself, but I shared) Next time I would make sure to have a salad to go with it. Otherwise, what else does the meal really need?

Because I cooked meat (and lots of it), added more sauce, and put in more spaghetti, the other change I would make for our family of 6 would be to make 2 of them. Mine was SOOO full, it was really difficult to braid. It would have been better to have two doughs ready and just divide the meat/spaghetti mixture between the two.

So mine didn't turn out beautifully. It didn't matter in the end.

It was delicious.

I am already looking forward to making it again.

(I also want to try the calzone version...hubby was almost salivating when I told him about it)

More soon,
Reba