Forever Nesting Mama: Spaghetti and Meatball Bread

If you've been to my house for dinner, it's pretty likely that you've had this dish. It's so easy to make and delicious, I love making it for guests! I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest (of course), and I have to say, it is one of my all time favorites! I mean, who doesn't LOVE pasta and garlic bread?? The first time I make a new recipe, I usually follow it exactly. We try it and while eating, my husband and I will discuss ideas to make it suit our tastes better. So with this one, I have a few modifications-try it the original way, try it my way, or put your own spin on it! Any way you make it, I can pretty much guarantee you will LOVE it!

Ingredients:

1 Loaf Rhodes Bread Dough thawed to room temperature
6 oz spaghetti, cooked
1 cup thick spaghetti sauce
8 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 –inch cubes
Cooked Meatballs (this is optional and something I added)
Melted Garlic Butter (also optional and my addition)
1 egg white
Parmesan cheese
Parsley flakes

The only catch to this recipe is remembering to thaw the bread dough several hours before you want to make the meal. I have forgotten several times and ended up eating plain spaghetti for dinner (those are sad days). Don't forget! I usually get the loaf of frozen dough out in the morning, about 8 hours before dinner. This gives it plenty of time to thaw and rise. When I get it out, I spray a large baking pan with cooking spray before I place the dough on it. Then I spray a large piece of plastic wrap with cooking spray and lay it on top of the bread. This keeps the random flying dust out of the dough while its rising.

Once the dough has thawed and risen, you are ready to start cooking!

The first thing I do is start to prepare my sauce and meatballs by browning up some ground turkey, cook the frozen meatballs and mix in jarred pasta sauce. You could of course use ground beef, or skip the meat all together for a vegetarian option. While the turkey is browning, I also get a pot of water boiling for the pasta. While these things are both cooking, I will start to get the bread dough ready. The first step is to flatten it out on the baking sheet (the original instructions have you working on a piece of parchment paper, both ways work just fine). I prefer to just use my hands to flatten and gently stretch the dough, but you can use a rolling pin as well (why dirty another dish when I can just use clean hands?!).

Once I get it stretched out, I add melted garlic butter (I make my own and just melt butter with some garlic powder in it). I just spoon or brush it on the entire surface. Next you will need to cut the dough. You want to make the tabs about an inch or so thick and only cut 1/3 of the way across (so you have un-cut dough to put your spaghetti on). I have found the easiest way t do this is with a pizza cutter.

**NOTE: My "tabs" are a little long here, my filling was busting out a bit and that could have been prevented with shorter tabs and a wider, un-cut middle area.

Next, I add about half of the cubed mozzarella cheese in the middle, un-cut area.

Once your sauce and pasta are both done, mix them together and put it in the middle of the dough. I generally fill the dough more than the original recipe shows, especially when we have guests and I'm feeding a lot of people.

Then place the rest of the cheese cubes on top of the spaghetti mixture.

Next you will need to 'braid' the dough using the tabs you cut earlier. I usually wrap mine up pretty good to keep all of the pasta, cheese and meatballs inside. You just take the first tabs from each side and criss-cross them over each other and the spaghetti filling. Continue this all the way down the loaf.

I then brush the top of mine with more melted garlic butter, but the original recipe says to brush it with an egg wash. I've done it both ways, both work just fine!

Now you are ready to pop it in the oven at 350 degrees until the bread is baked through. I usually just check on mine and once it starts getting brown on top, I'll pull up on the tabs and check the dough on the inside. Once the inside looks baked, it comes out of the oven!