Vegan Savory Spiral Bread

Yield: appetizer servings for approximately 6-8

When our close friends Randy and Yvette Hetrick lived here, we enjoyed many fantastic meals together. My favorites were at their house after a long walk with our dogs in the state park behind their house. Sometimes Yvette did all the honors and sometimes we pooled our resources. She is in the top .5% of home cooks I know.

One of my favorite appetizers that she made in many wonderful variations was what I referred to as "Yvette's Spiral Bread." It's a simple dough--I use my go-to pizza dough which is very similar to what she used--filled with whatever your heart desires, as long as it's not so moist that it makes the dough soggy.

She and I have created so many permutations that it would be difficult to recall them all. My favorites have at least two, even three, very thin layers with the ingredients chopped small or thinly sliced. If you overstuff the bread or leave pieces of the filling ingredients too large--which is easy to want to do--the bread is difficult to slice and falls apart. So avoid the temptation.

I made the version depicted above when I was at my family's home for the holidays (and presented it on my favorite serving platter: a gorgeous pink ceramic one that belonged to my my mother's mother). Mama had three jars of unopened savory condiments that she'd picked up a long time ago thinking they looked too good to pass up, but not having anything specific to do with them: olive tapenade, caramelized onions and fennel, and roasted yellow and red Italian peppers. I knew exactly what to do with them! And they made a spectacular version of Spiral Bread.

For your iterations, let your imagination run wild. In addition to tapenades, caramelized onion/root veggies, and roasted peppers, consider vegan cheeses, sauteed mushrooms (with most of the moisture evaporated), olive and other pastes, finely chopped and drained artichoke hearts, vegan pestos, chutneys, sundried tomatoes, flavored hummus and more.


Optional Rosemary Oil (you may use plain olive oil):
1/4 cup olive oil
2 sprigs fresh rosemary

Pour oil into a small bowl or cup. Remove rosemary leaves from stems, crush slightly with your fingers and submerge in oil. Set aside while preparing bread.


CPK's Pizza Dough:

1 teaspoon "quick rise" or "rapid rise" yeast
1 3/4 cup unbleached bread or all-purpose flour (I used all-purpose)
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon granulated or raw sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoons tepid water ("quick rise" yeast does not need the traditional soak in warm water to activate it)
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

You may use a stand mixer (fitted with a paddle rather than a hook for this small amount of dough), a food processor or your hands. If you use a processor, use a plastic rather than a metal blade, as the latter will cut through the gluten strands preventing a proper rise. Place all dry ingredients in the appropriate bowl. Add water and 1 teaspoon olive oil and beat for 2-3 minutes on medium-low until dough is smooth and elastic; or process just until the dough forms a smooth ball; or knead 5 minutes with oiled hands or until smooth and elastic, but slightly sticky. Do not overbeat/over-knead. Pour remaining teaspoon of olive oil into a mixing bowl and spread with your fingers. Place ball of dough into the bowl and move it around to coat the underside and then flip over and do the same to the other side. Cover loosely with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rise until doubled in bulk about 2 hours. While dough rises, prepare other ingredients.

Note: If you have regular active dry yeast, dissolve it first in the water before adding to the dry ingredients. The water should be 105-110 degrees; any hotter will kill the yeast and prevent rising.


Fillings (choose 2-3 of the following):
Tapenades
Caramelized onions/root vegetables, chopped small or thinly sliced
Roasted red peppers, thinly sliced
Vegan cheeses
Sauteed mushrooms (chop them small or slice them thinly and evaporate most of moisture)
Olive and other pastes
Artichoke hearts, chopped small or thinly sliced
Vegan pestos
Chutneys
Sundried tomatoes in oil, chopped small or thinly sliced
Flavored hummus


Shaping and Assembling:
After dough has risen--or during last half hour of rise--preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a pizza stone or inverted baking pan inside and heat it for approximately 30 minutes. Shape dough into a ball, dust lightly with flour, and place in the center of a lightly oiled piece of foil about 10 inches square, shiny side down. Pat and roll dough into a rectangle, roughly 14 inches on the long side. Dough should be about 1/4" thick. Spread a very thin layer of desired fillings over dough, stopping about 1/2" from edges. Roll up jellyroll fashion. With your finger moisten the long edge and ends to help seal, gently pinching and bending ends under if desired for a neater appearance. Brush roll with a little olive oil or rosemary olive oil and sprinkle with coarse kosher or sea salt.


Baking:
Using oven mitts, open the oven door and slide out center rack. Carefully slide the roll, foil and all, onto pizza stone or inverted baking sheet. Slide rack back into place and bake approximately 15 minutes, but begin checking at about 11. When crust is golden, remove roll from oven. Brush with a little more oil and sprinkle with a little more coarse salt if desired. Allow to cool until easy to handle. Slide roll onto cutting surface and slice into 1/2-inch pieces on the diagonal using a serrated knife. Arrange on platter and serve warm or at room temperature.