{MAKE IT} Braided Spaghetti Bread

It’s been a while since I posted a recipe, but not for a lack of cooking, rather a lack of inspiration I suppose. I’ve been making a lot of the same old stuff lately, between the colder weather and the fact that it’s practically pitch black by the time I get home at night I’m less than motivated to feed my family, never mind feed them something that’s blog-worthy! Don’t get me wrong, I love cooking but I despise cooking byproducts. Meal planning, cupboard inventory, grocery shopping, and then of course the endless amount of dishes that seem to multiply faster than a pack of rabbits… Ugh…

Anyways, today everybody wins! My family gets a freaking fantastic meal, and YOU get a crowd pleasing recipe! Win-win, no?!

~~My fat ass will vouch~~ Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a carb LOVER. I don’t think I’ve ever met a carb I didn’t like, and this recipe is a fantastic marriage between soft, fresh garlic bread, and delicious, cheesy baked spaghetti. I dare you not to like this. It’s awesome! In fact, the biggest kid not only asked for seconds (after he’d already finished a bowl of ice cream!), but he begged me to put the leftovers in his lunch today! How can I say no to that!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Adapted from Rhodes Bake’n Serv Blog

1 Loaf of frozen bread dough, thawed to room temperature

6 oz spaghetti, cooked

1 cup spaghetti sauce

1 cup cheese, shredded

1 egg white

Parmesan cheese

Parsley flakes

Garlic powder

Optional – Browned ground beef or meat alternative

Here’s what you’ll need to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook your spaghetti according to package directions, drain and let cool.

Roll out bread dough on a piece of parchment paper to an aprox. 12×16 rectangle. Set to the side.

Toss spaghetti with pasta sauce until well coated. Add in cooked meat or meat alternative if desired. (I used 1/2 a package of ground round).

Place spaghetti lengthwise down the center of dough. Try your best to keep the spaghetti neatly and evenly in the center of the dough.

Top spaghetti mixture evenly with cheese.

Make 1 1/2 inch cuts along sides of dough, stopping just before the spaghetti mixture.

Folding the 2 end pieces up towards the filling first, gently “braid” the dough by pulling each strip towards the center, alternating sides, left over right.

Brush coat the top of the braided bread with egg white and sprinkle with parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and parsley. (I also threw on some smoked paprika, because it’s awesome!)

Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

Cool slightly, slice and serve. Mmmmmm…

helpful hints:

While this recipe is a breeze to make, I ran into a few snags along the way. Here’s what you should do to ensure your dinner prep goes smoothly!

Ensure that you give your bread time to fully thaw (can take 2-4 hours from frozen) before you start.

Let your spaghetti cool before you put it on the dough, that is unless your super prepared with all your cheese shredded and ready to go, because once the hot spaghetti hits the dough everything starts to get all sticky together and frustrating. This is especially true if you started with your dough on a cutting board as opposed to a piece of menarche paper like you should have… Oops…

You don’t get extra marks for into oven presentation, so don’t worry if it looks like the dough boy threw up on your pan. Mine was ugly prior to hitting the oven, so much so that I thought this was going to be an epic fail ending in a call to dominoes, but thankfully the miracle of rising dough fixes any imperfections.

This recipe is super versatile! If you like veggies in your pasta, throw them in! I used a sauce with veggies built right in to squash the extra step!

You could also very likely make this with your own homemade bread dough, but that would require far more effort, and y’all know just how I feel about that!

Seriously, you’re going to enjoy this one… Unless of course you don’t like bread, or spaghetti… In which case I don’t think we should be friends!

Enjoy!