Pain Pesto

This is a lovely, soft bread with a light, airy crumb and a swirl of pesto.

The dough comes together easily and quickly (no sponges or preferments required) and has a relatively short kneading time. After the first rising, the dough is shaped much as one would cinnamon rolls, spreading the rolled-out dough with a savoury pesto, then rolling it up jelly-roll style. After the second rise, the roll is baked. Buns suited my purpose better than a loaf, so I sliced the filled roll as I would for cinnamon buns before the second proof. The tops are finished with grated parmesan and baked.

The recipe calls for store-bought pesto, but this bread is only as good as the pesto that is used. I would recommend spreading it thinly and using less than the amount recommended as it can be quite potent.