What’s better than fresh, fluffy bread that you’ve made at home? Homemade bread that’s filled with a swirl of gorgeous green pesto! It’s perfect for serving with soups, enjoying plain, or with your favourite spread.
This homemade loaf is a fun twist on garlic bread. Our pesto bread is fluffy with a soft golden crust, and a filling of tasty vegan pesto. It seems everyone is suddenly into making bread at home now, so now seemed like the perfect time to share this recipe with you! It’s also great if you’ve got half a jar of pesto lurking at the back of your fridge.
If you’ve never made bread before we encourage you to give it a go. It can take some time with the kneading and rising processes, but we hope you find it a relaxing and rewarding experience. (Kneading for 10 minutes can be very therapeutic I find!)
Read on for pesto tips, step by step pics and the detailed process.
What kind of pesto?
We use our own homemade vegan pesto. Pesto can be made out of all kinds of green leaves, it’s the perfect recipe for using up an abundance of fresh produce, and cutting down on food waste.
If you don’t have any pesto on hand, use this basic recipe to quickly make yourself a jar!
- 2 cups greens (spinach, basil, carrot tops, coriander, wild garlic...)
- 2 tbsp nuts or seeds (pine nuts, cashews, walnuts, sunflower, pumpkin…)
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 cloves of garlic (omit if using wild garlic leaves)
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup plus 1 tbsp olive oil
Blend all the ingredients together (or very finely chop if you don’t have a blender). You’ll need ½ a cup of pesto for this loaf. We’ve not tested the recipe with shop bought pesto, which may be slightly oiler.
Transfer the leftovers into a clean jar, and store in the fridge. For more pesto making tips check out our Vegan Wild Garlic Pesto, which is our fave pesto to use in this bread!
Making the dough
The dough has just 6 ingredients. White flour, dried yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil and water.
Here’s how you make the dough step by step:
Step 1: Measure the dry ingredients into a large bowl, keeping the salt and yeast separate.
Step 2: Add the water and olive oil.
Step 3: Using a spatula, mix into a rough dough.
Step 4: Transfer the dough onto a well floured board and dust your hands with flour. Start to knead it, by stretching and folding the dough on itself. If after the first couple of minutes it’s not getting less sticky, then add a bit more flour and keep kneading until the dough is elastic and has a smooth surface.
Step 5: Form the dough into a ball, and leave to rise in a bowl lightly greased with oil. Cover the bowl with a tea towel, and leave in a warm spot for an hour.
Step 6: When the dough has doubled in size, you’re ready to shape the loaf!
Shaping the loaf
And now we can shape our pesto bread!
Step 1: Cover a large board or work surface in a good dusting of flour. Gently tip the dough out of the bowl onto the centre of the board. Dust a rolling pin with flour, and gently roll out the dough into a circle around 30cm/12 inches in diameter. You can make it a bit larger for more defined swirls, but don’t roll out thinner than half a centimeter.
Step 2: Cover the dough circle in pesto. Leaving a 3cm/1 inch margin around the edge.
Step 3: Roll up the circle into a loaf shape.
Step 4: Gently transfer or slide the loaf onto baking parchment on a baking sheet. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place to prove (a second rise) the loaf for around 30 minutes.
Step 5: To test the loaf is ready to bake, gently press your fingertip into the dough, the dough should slowly bounce back most of the way. Brush the surface with soy milk. This makes the crust more golden and shiny.
Step 6: Bake the loaf at 220C (420F) for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let it cool on a wire rack.
More tasty bread recipes to try!
We hope you enjoyed making (and eating!) our pesto bread. It goes really well with our Creamy Wild Garlic Soup! If you fancy some more bread baking, try these other fun recipes...
This yummy Super Seedy Sourdough Loaf loaf is packed full of good stuff. (And perfect if you are having trouble getting white flour or yeast at the moment!) It's the darker, denser bread of Paul's homeland of Austria, and is super nutritious and filling.
We also adore making our own vegan pizzas and sweet calzones. We use this No Knead Pizza Dough that’s super easy and makes tasty, crispy & fluffy crusts.
📖 Recipe
Pesto Bread
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups (300 g) plain flour (all purpose)
- 1 tsp dried yeast instant / fast action
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ⅞ cup (200 ml) warm water
- ½ cup (135 g) pesto
- (1 tbsp) soy milk for brushing
Instructions
Making the dough
- Add the flour, sugar, yeast and salt to a mixing bowl. Briefly whisk to combine.
- Add the water and olive oil, and roughly mix into a dough. Depending on the absorbancy of your flour, you may need to add more to make it not too sticky.
- Transfer the dough onto a well floured board and dust your hands with flour.
- Knead the dough by stretching and folding the dough on itself for 10 minutes. If after the first couple of minutes it’s not getting less sticky, then add a bit more flour and keep kneading until the dough is elastic and has a smooth surface.
- Form the dough into a ball, and place in a bowl lightly greased with oil.
- Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel, and leave to rise in a warm spot for an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Shaping and baking
- Cover a large board or work surface and a rolling pin in a good dusting of flour.
- Gently tip the dough out of the bowl onto the centre of the board and roll out the dough into a circle around 30 cm (12 inches) in diameter.
- Spread the pesto on the dough circle in pesto, leaving a 3 cm (1 inch) margin around the edge.
- Roll up the circle into a loaf shape.
- Gently transfer or slide the loaf onto baking parchment on a baking sheet.
- Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place to prove for around 30 minutes. To test the loaf is ready to bake, gently press your fingertip into the dough. It should slowly bounce back most of the way.
- Brush the surface of the loaf with soy milk.
- Bake the loaf at 220°C (420°F) on top/bottom heat for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. You'll know it's fully cooked when it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.
- Let the pesto bread cool down on a wire rack.
Notes
Nutrition
This information is calculated per serving and is an estimate only.
Sending you lots of love and tasty food!
Sophie & Paul
Shawne Hart says
This is an excellent recipe. I am making this bread once a week now since I found it 6 weeks ago. I usually make my own basil pesto using almonds and cheese. I’m not vegan but I know there are vegan cheeses on the market. I am wanting to expand to other fillings/swirls. Do you think chopped roasted garlic or olive tapenade would also work well? Thanks again for recipe.
Shawné
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Shawne, so happy to hear you love the recipe 🙂
Roasted garlic or olive sounds great! We would also encourage you to try any other of your favourite flavours. We think that sundried tomato pesto or a thick tomato puree-based sauce with onion and herbs or caramelised onion would be great things to try. Good luck, and enjoy! 🙂 Sophie & Paul
Phyllis says
Could you please tell me when the yeast and salt are added? The instructions say to keep them separate, but don't go on to say when they're to be added. Please forgive me if I have simply missed that explanation.
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Phyllis, thanks for the question and sorry that this instruction not clear - we've clarified it now for future readers! The yeast and salt are added along with the other ingredients - flour and sugar. It's better to not place the yeast directly next to the salt in the bowl, as it's bad for the yeast. But if you mix the dry ingredients immediately, you won't have to worry about that 🙂 Hope you enjoy making the pesto swirl bread!
Phyllis says
Wow, thanks for your quick reply! I'll make it tomorrow. Surely it will be delicious.
Harpua says
Made this today, it was perfect! I followed the recipe exactly, adding a little flour during kneading as instructed. Took 24 minutes in my oven. Will make this over and over.
Sophie and Paul says
So happy to hear that Harpua! Happy baking it again and again 🙂
Suzy says
I've been baking bread for over 45 years and this is a five star bread for sure! In fact, I made it last night and 1/2 the loaf is gone! However, there are issues with the recipe itself. First, the First, Step 2 above is not included in Step 2 in the recipe box. Also, I found the flour to water ratio way off. I live in the Midwest so I know it's not an altitude thing, but I added at least another cup of flour to get a dough that I could touch and knead. The baking time was also closer to 35 minutes. I will definitely be making this again, and will tag it as a "take along" for when we (are able to again) visit with friends and relatives. Thank you for the wonderful recipe, and stay safe and well.
Sophie and Paul says
Thanks so much Suzy! We are so happy you enjoyed the bread, and have added it to your list of breads to bake again. I'm so grateful for your comment and have fixed the missing Step 2 from the recipe card 🙂 I've also added a note about the absorbancy of flour, which can vary hugely. We've not baked with American flour, but we know from baking in both the UK and Austria, that it can be very different, so adjusting like you did is perfect, and your tips will surely help our American readers. Hoping you stay well too, and sending you best wishes from England! Sophie