Like Pizza in Bread form

This Vegan Braided Bread with Sun Dried Tomato Pesto with Walnuts bursts with flavour. It reminds a bit of pizza margarita with the tomato and the basil and is the perfect appetizer or starter for a lovely dinner with friends or family. I’m sure your kids will love this bread, too.

Traditional flavours

Tomato and Basil is such an incredible combination, no wonder it’s so famous. If on pizza or pasta or salads, these two flavours are real friends and are the perfect base for another pesto. After a green pesto with Chlorella and another one with Spirulina and then a yellow pesto with turmeric I was thinking of a new color.

Sun Dried Tomatoes

And of course I cannot make a pesto series without a sun dried tomato pesto. I use walnuts in this recipe, they are way cheaper than the pine nuts and in my opinion I even like them more in the pesto. Because of the acidity of the tomatoes I add a tiny little bit of sweetener, I recommend maple or agave syrup. They have the advantage that they blend in very easily.

I usually buy the “dry” sun dried tomatoes and not the ones in oil.  That’s how I avoid excess oil in my kitchen. Of course for this pesto, which has anyway a good amount of oil in it, it doesn’t really matter. So if you use the sun dried tomatoes in oil, just put them straight in the blender or food processor. And if you use the “dry” ones I recommend to soak them in hot water for about 10 minutes, so you can blend them better and get a smooth pesto.

Check out my other filled braided breads:

• Braided Bread with Superfood Pesto with Chlorella
• Braided Bread with Turmeric Cashew Pesto
  

Print Recipe

Braided Bread with Sun Dried Tomato Walnut Pesto Filling (vegan)

Surprise your guests or family with this stunning braided bread with a sun dried tomato walnut pesto filling. Almost a bit like Pizza in Bread Form, this is an amazing appetizer or starter and people will love it. Easier to make than you think and 100% plantbased.

Prep Time

35 minutes

Cook Time

45 minutes

Passive Time

60 minutes

Servings

breads

Ingredients

Sundried Tomato Pesto with Walnuts

• 2/3 cup sundried tomatoes
• 2 cups basil leaves
• 8 garlic cloves peeled
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp salt
• 8 tsp tomato paste
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp maple syrup or agave syrup

Braided Breads

• 935 gr white wheat flour
• 185 gr white spelt flour
• 2.5 tsp salt
• 35 gr fresh yeast
• 1.5 tbsp maple syrup
• 500 ml plantbased milk soy milk for example
• 165 ml olive oil

Prep Time 35 minutes Cook Time 45 minutes Passive Time 60 minutes Servings breads Ingredients Sundried Tomato Pesto with Walnuts 2/3 cup sundried tomatoes 2 cups basil leaves 8 garlic cloves peeled 1 cup walnuts 1 cup nutritional yeast 2 tbsp lemon juice 2 tsp salt 8 tsp tomato paste 1/2 cup olive oil 2 tsp maple syrup or agave syrup Braided Breads 935 gr white wheat flour 185 gr white spelt flour 2.5 tsp salt 35 gr fresh yeast 1.5 tbsp maple syrup 500 ml plantbased milk soy milk for example 165 ml olive oil

Instructions

Sundried Tomato Pesto with Walnuts

1. If you use the dry sundried tomatoes (not the ones in oil) then put them in a bowl and soak them for 10 minutes in hot water. If you use the ones in oil, you can put them right away in the food processor.
2. Put all ingredients in a food processor and mix until you get a crumbly, pesto-like consistency. If it's too dry, just add more oil. Don't make it too runny, just use as much oil as needed. For the pesto bread it is ideal to have a rather "dry" pesto, so it will stay in the dough while braiding and baking the bread.

Braided Breads

1. Leave the yeast with the maple syrup in a cup and set aside.
2. Mix in a big bowl the flour with the salt.
3. In a saucepan mix the plantbased milk and olive oil and warm it up (not too hot, otherwise the yeast will be dead ?).
4. Add the yeast to the warm oil-milk mix and stir well.
5. Add to the flour and mix everything together and knead during 8-10 minutes until a smooth dough forms. If it’s too dry, add a bit of water, is it too sticky, add more flour.
6. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with a wet kitchen cloth.
7. Let ferment for about 1 hour.
8. Take the dough out of the bowl and cut into 4 equal parts.
9. Using a rolling pin, roll one part into a rectangle, aprox. 30 x 50 cm.
10. Take 1-2 tbsp of the pesto and spread it on the rectangle.

    
11. Then start rolling it up from the long side and make a roll.

    
12. Repeat with the 3 other parts.
13. Then, take two of the rolls and form the braid (see my IG stories highlight how to do the braids, see below in notes, I've attached the link). Repeat with the other 2 rolls, so you get 2 braided breads in total.
14. Bake at 210ºC during 40 min. I put the bread into the cold oven, so it will raise a few minutes more until the oven reaches the temperature. In order to check if the breads are cooked through, knock on them and if you get a hollow sound, then it's ok to take out.

Recipe Notes

For the braiding technique please see the stories highlight "Zopf Swiss braided bread" on my IG account @fabs_good_food.

The breads, once baked, can be frozen without any problem. You can either freeze them whole, or cut into slices.

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MAPLE SYRUP