Pesto Bread
November 8th, 2009 by chuck

I had some leftover Pesto sitting in the fridge calling out my name to be used up. I decided to use it in a bread. Well, it turned out beautiful with a savory flavor of the basil, roasted pine nuts, olive oil and Parmesan cheese. The color is stunning and the bread is filled with swirls of emerald green.
I love the look of the top of this bread. I rolled the dough like a jelly roll, then cut down the middle lengthwise and braiding the two pieces together, with the cut side always facing up. This gives the bread a wonderful lumpy, swirly look. While baking I could smell the pesto as it baked into the bread. The intense flavor is to die for. I think this bread would be delicious with a steaming bowl of tomato soup. So good!

For a step by step class for this great bread recipe Pesto Bread click here.
For a printable bread recipe card of this Pesto Bread click here.
For more free bread recipes go to our parent website at Cookingbread.com.

hmmm i have some pesto asking to be used up too! will try this. thx
A very flavorful bread! Lovely!
Cheers,
Rosa
This is gorgeous! I never thought to use pesto in a bread, and it’s pure genius! This one goes into my MUST MAKE SOON file. Thanks for the tutorial.
Well now, this is a totally great idea! Now I am going to dig into my fridge and see what I have in there…
I really like the sound of a pesto bread!
Genius. This is a great idea and I bet just delicious.
This looks unbelievable and I *need* to make that this week.
Thanks for the post, if I make it I’ll do a tutorial/update!
Holy yum! I just bought basil on sale for .50 a bunch but it has to be used asap!
Thanks for this recipe!
Awesome! I tried to make some pesto rolls once like cinnamon rolls, but it was a bit of a fail. I will have to try your method out next time
This looks amazing! What a great use for extra pesto.
Oh……..I NEED this bread!
I can just imagine how yummy this must be! Wonderful idea.
What a great way to use up pesto! Your bread looks great. I am saving this recipe to make one day. Thank you, Chuck!
Have lots of basil and I shall make this soon (unlike the Black Forest buns that took me a year!)
I too have some pesto in the fridge! Definitely going to make this!
Chuck, while my basil went bad and I used store bought pesto, this was a wonderful bread. Much softer than I anticipated, but very good – love the feel of this dough!
I am going to post about it tonight.
Thanks again for the recipe!
[...] I found this recipe for Pesto Bread and knew it was going in my ever growing pile of things to make. While it only had two tablespoons of olive oil, it was such a supple dough, and called for powdered milk as one of the ingredients! The only difference is I chose to make mine into baguettes, not typical bread loaves. [...]
Absolutely delicious with great flavor and delicate texture – I made the loaves with my dill walnut pesto and they were praised highly by all!
Hi, This is the first time I have used a recipe from this website and it was fantastic! I didn’t use any extra Parmesan inside the bread as I wanted it to have a strong pesto taste not a cheesy taste. The bread had a wonderfully soft texture and the pesto wasn’t too over powering. In fact next time I will probably add more. We had it with pumpkin soup and it was great.
Next time I might try mini rolls or baguettes.
Thanks so much!
Very tasty bread. Thanks a loaf
This is the reason why I run every day. But it is WORTH IT.
That looks fantastic! OMG … can you imaging pesto bread croutons?? Because I can …
I used up some left over apple and msutard sauce in some of the dough and some edamame hummous in the rest and cooked each as a braid. Stunning and devoured by all. Made nice toasts too.
What a gorgeous bread. Love the crouton idea above…
I made this amazing bread on the weekend for a family get together. My in-laws were so impressed and I’m not surprised. The marbelling effect of the pesto is just beautiful and the taste divine! Thank you for the inspiration and helping me to get some brownie points with the fam… hehe
Incredible flavor and presentation. I made mine
into 6 mini loaves as there are only 2 of us now.
I think this is a great recipe to experiment shapes with as it is very pliable. Thanks from
one who grew up in the Okanagan Valley and now live in Las Vegas.
I loved this bread so much that I made it again this past weekend… only this time with Sundried Tomato Pesto. Try it. Amazing!
Hello,
I can’t find skim milk powder(I live in Egypt), can I substitute it with full cream milk powder?
Thanks!
Hi,
Can the skim milk powder be subsituted with fresh milk? If so, would it be 2 cups excluding 2 cups of water?
Thanks!
This is some of the best bread I’ve ever made or eaten! Thanks for the recipe (and pictures).
Thank you also for the technique. I can’t wait to try it with other fillings!
I really enjoyed the bread, and had a lot of fun doing the technique. I am a budding bread maker and I think I’ve found a new favorite thing to do!!!
Can’t wait to try more of your recipes.
Thanks,
Michelle
[...] Pesto Bread Adapted from The KneadforBread [...]