Food accomplishments!

I feel accomplished today. I got out of bed at 10am, so I got plenty of sleep last night (hooray!). I successfully finished making two pie crusts (and one pie is currently in the oven, but Chad just put together the innards of that one, so I can't take the credit). I also made stuffed bread dough (see below for description and recipe) and an Italian salad to take to some friends who had a baby almost two weeks ago. In the midst of all the cooking, I also took Gavin to a chiropractor appointment. All of that, and I got out the door by 5:10 to pick Chad up at work and go on to our friends' house to deliver the dinner. Gavin happily played under his baby gym on the kitchen floor for at least half an hour while I put the stuffed bread dough together. Amazing.

Stuffed bread dough is pretty much exactly what it sounds like - something stuffed inside of a slightly sweet roll-like bread. I got the recipe from my mother-in-law, who is the source of many, many tasty things. My favorite stuffing is probably browned ground beef with onions, celery and cheddar cheese, but you can put in whatever you might like. I made some today with little smokeys (aka cocktail sausages), and I used ground turkey instead of ground beef. I've also heard of pizza-like stuffing, such as pepperoni and mozzarella. Anyhow, here's the recipe:

Stuffed Bread Dough

Bread:
2 c warm water
2 packages yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 c oil
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp salt
5-6 c flour

Filling ideas:
a) 1 pound ground beef, browned and seasoned with salt and pepper, mixed with sauteed onion and celery
shredded or sliced cheddar cheese
b) 1 pound cocktail sausages
c) pepperoni
shredded mozzarella cheese
sliced black olives

Directions:
Dissolve yeast in water. In a large, bowl, mix yeast solution with all other ingredients except for flour. Stir in flour gradually until dough is slightly stiff. Knead 8-10 times on floured surface. Let rise about 1 hour.

Punch down dough in center. Pull off a fist-sized clump and flatten in palm of hand. For option (a), place cheese on dough first and put ground beef, onion and celery mixture on top. For filling (b), use 3-5 sausages (whole). For (c), place mozzarella first, then olives, then pepperoni. Pull dough up and around on all sides and pinch shut on top, sealing the filling inside. Place on greased cookie sheet seam-side down. (Repeat process until all dough is used.) Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Makes 10 to 14.