This bread is like a whole batch of soft, fluffy dinner rolls baked into one big loaf. It is baked in a large baking pan, just as dinner rolls might be, but without any shaping of any kind. The large, rectangular loaf and can be cut into dinner roll-sized squares for serving.

The bread dough is sweet and tender, with a very soft texture to it that makes it a good match for butter and jam. There is a small amount of pumpkin puree in the dough (it’s a good way to use up leftovers after baking pumpkin muffins) that adds sweetness and a lovely light orange color. The dough is very easy to make and even easier if you have a stand mixer. All you need to do is stir the dough together until it comes into a soft, slightly sticky ball (this will take a bit of stirring if you don’t have a mixer) and then turn it out into a greased 9×13-inch pan. The bread dough rises right in the pan and goes straight into the oven.

I topped my bread with a sprinkle of sesame seeds. You can leave yours plain if you prefer. When the bread comes out of the oven, brush the top with a little bit of melted butter to soften the top and add a little extra buttery flavor to the bread.

No Knead Pumpkin Dinner Bread
1 3/4 cups water, warm (100-110F)
5 tsp (1/2-oz) active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp salt
5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)

Pour warm water into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add in yeast and sugar and stir. Let stand for 5 minutes until slightly foamy.
Add in pumpkin puree, melted butter, egg and salt and whisk to combine. Put the dough hook on the stand mixer and add in 3 cups of all purpose flour. With the dough hook on medium speed, gradually add in the remaining flour until dough comes together in a smooth, slightly stick ball. Continue to mix with the dough hook for 1-2 minutes.
If not using a stand mixer, combine ingredients as directed above in a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until dough comes together until a smooth, slightly sticky ball.
Turn dough out into a lightly greased 9×13-inch baking dish and press into an even layer with a spatula. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 1 – 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if desired.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until bread is golden and sound hollow when tapped.
Take additional 1 tbsp butter and brush on top of hot bread using pastry brush. Allow bread to cool in pan before serving.

Serves 15-20

The bread is a lightly sweetened loaf that has a soft, fluffy crumb. The dough is divided into thirds, and each piece of dough is stuffed with an onion filling, then the pieces are braided together to form the finished loaf. It can be a little tricky getting the buttery onion mixture fully enclosed in the dough (your last section will probably be a little better than your first; practice helps a lot!), but a few stray pieces of onion is nothing to worry about and won’t impact the finished loaf.

The onion filling is made by gently sauteing some garlic in a little bit of butter and then tossing the mixture over some uncooked, diced onions. Sweet onions are sweet just as they are and don’t need to be precooked, while regular white and yellow onions are usually cooked to draw out their sweetness. In this recipe, the onions actually cook as the bread bakes, so there is no need to cook the onions in advance. Sweet Vidalia or Hawaiian onions are definitely my favorites for this recipe, but you can substitute other types of onion if you don’t have sweet onions. The onion flavor will be a little more potent with other onions (not that there is anything wrong with that!) and the bread will be a touch more savory overall.

The bread has a real wow factor to it. This is partly because the large, braided loaf is very pretty, but also because the moist, flavorful fulling makes a great contrast to the slightly sweet bread surrounding it. I originally made it to accompany some homemade tomato soup, but the bread goes well with just about everything. Include it in breakfast alongside eggs and bacon, slice it for a sandwich or just spread a little bit of butter on top and enjoy it on its own.

Braided Sweet Onion Bread
Bread
2 1/2 tsp (.25 oz) active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water, warm (100-110F)
1/2 cup milk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 – 4 1/2 cups bread flour

Filling
2 tbsp butter
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 cup diced sweet onion (such as Vidalia or Hawaiian)
1/4 tsp salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl, if you’re mixing by hand), combine yeast, sugar and warm water. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy. Stir in milk, vegetable oil, egg, salt and 2 cups of flour, mixing just until all the ingredients come together into a thick batter.
Using the dough hook attachment, mix the dough on medium-low speed and gradually incorporate the remaining flour until dough is smooth, soft and elastic. You might not need all of the flour, so add in the last 1/2 cup very gradually. Dough will pull away from the sides of the stand mixer when it is done. It should be soft, but not sticky.
Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 60-90 minutes, until doubled in size.

While dough rises, prepare the filling. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add in minced garlic and sautee for 2-3 minutes, until garlic is fragrant. Remove from heat and pour butter and garlic into a small bowl. Add in diced onions and salt. Toss to combine.
Set aside and allow to cool.

When dough has risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently deflate dough and press it down into a rectangle that is about 8×12-inches. Divide dough into three even pieces about 8×4-inches.
Carefully spread 1/3 of the onion mixture into the center (lengthwise) of one of the strips of dough. Pull in the sides to enclose the filling. Pinch dough very firmly along the seam and at the ends to seal. Repeat with remaining dough strips.
Transfer dough strips to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Braid three filled strips of dough together (as you would for challah) and pinch together the ends to finish the loaf.
Cover with a clean dish towel and allow bread to rise for 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until bread is a dark golden brown.
Allow bread to cool completely before slicing.

No-Knead Whole Wheat Cinnamon Blueberry Bread starts out with a mixture of whole wheat flour and bread flour. The flours are heated slightly before being incorporated into the the dough, which helps the loaf to rise faster and make it into the oven more quickly. The dough can be mixed by hand, but I tend to whip it up in my stand mixer, so it really tasks very little time to put together. The whole wheat flour gives the bread a very nutty flavor and a slightly coarser crumb than all purpose or bread flour would. The slightly airier texture of the finished bread makes this perfect for soaking up an eggy french toast batter or lots of butter after toasting. It doesn’t have the sweetness of a cinnamon swirl bread, which often has additional sugar added when making the swirl, but it still has plenty of flavor from the cinnamon and all of those blueberries.

Dried blueberries make a nice change from raisins in this bread dough, adding a sweet and fruity flavor to the loaf. The berries plump up nicely during baking, too. If you have raisins or currants, you could easily substitute those into this recipe or use them in a mixture with some blueberries. Dried cranberries could be subbed in in the fall and winter for a tangier note in cooler weather. This bread slices easily and makes great toast, especially if you finish it off with butter and cinnamon sugar. If you end up taking the french toast route with your finished loaf, pick up some fresh blueberries and make a nice compote to top off your breakfast!

No-Knead Whole Wheat Cinnamon Blueberry Bread
2 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour (all purpose is ok)
1 3/4 cups water, warmed (100-110F)
5 tsp active dry yeast (2 packages/ .5-oz)
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup dried blueberries

In a large, microwave-safe bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour and bread flour. Microwave for 30-40 seconds, until flour is very warm to the touch.
In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 1 cup of the water with the yeast, honey and sugar. Stir and let stand for 5-10 minutes, until yeast is foamy. Add in the remaining water, vegetable oil, salt, cinnamon and about half of the warm flour mixture and stir well with a wooden spoon to combine.
If using a stand mixer, attach a dough hook and continue adding flour with the mixer on medium. Add flour gradually until dough comes together into a smooth ball and pulls away from the sides. A small amount of flour might be left over. Turn speed up to medium, add in blueberries, and mix for 1 minute.
If mixing by hand, gradually add in the remaining flour, mixing vigorously with a wooden spoon with each addition. Mix until until dough comes together into a smooth ball and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. A small amount of flour might be left over. Add blueberries into the dough and continue to push dough around with the wooden spoon, gently kneading it, for 1 additional minute after dough comes together smoothly and blueberries are well-incorporated.
Lightly grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan. Turn dough out into the loaf pan and cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Allow to rise for 30-35 minutes, or until dough rises 1-inch above the sides of the pan.
Preheat oven to 400F.
Once bread has risen, remove plastic wrap and place loaf pan in the oven.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until bread is dark golden brown.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn bread out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf.

Naturally, I wanted to give this pizza a try in my own kitchen so that I could make it any time I was in the mood for a slice – or any time that I had all of the ingredients available and ready to go! I started with my favorite pizza crust recipe. The recipe uses a technique that was developed by America’s Test Kitchen. It produces a light crust with just the right combination of chewy interior and crisp exterior in a very short period of time – and it is all done in a food processor. I definitely recommend this crust, but you can use these toppings with another dough recipe if you have a favorite.

Pancetta is frequently known as Italian bacon. It is cured with salt and seasoned with pepper and other spices, but it is not smoked like American bacon is. Pancetta is typically sold in sausage-like logs, and it can be cut thick or thin, in rounds or in strips, depending on what you want to do with it. In this case, I cooked some small cubes of pancetta in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil until they were crispy and removed them to a paper towel to dry. Then, I added the my onions (and some butter, but you don’t need to add extra) to the fat left in the pan and caramelized them over a medium heat. I put a very small amount of marinara sauce on my dough, topped it generously with pancetta and onions, and then sprinkled on some goat cheese and a little shredded mozzarella. It isn’t exactly like what I had in the restaurant, but it was a great way to top a pizza. The salty cheese melds well with the slightly salty, porky pancetta and the sweet onions, and the tomato sauce adds some extra sweetness and a nice backdrop that brings everything together.

The amounts given below are approximate, as you can add as much or as little of these elements to your pizzas as you wish. They can all be easily doubled, too, if you’re doing a big batch. Feel free to add some red pepper flakes for heat or omit the mozzarella if you want more goat cheese, too.

Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion and Pancetta Pizza
These amounts are approximate. Use as much or as little as a topping as you like, and experiment by adding sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts or other elements to your own rendition of the pizza!

Enough dough for two 10-12-inch pizzas (recipe here)
4-6 oz pancetta
1 large onion, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
6-8 oz goat cheese, crumbled or coarsely chopped
4-oz shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup marinara sauce

Preheat the oven to 500F – with your baking stone on the oven rack, if you have one.
Cut pancetta into small cubes. Fry pancetta in a skillet coated with a little bit of olive oil or vegetable oil over medium-high heat until pancetta is crispy, about 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching
Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the crispy pancetta and place on a paper-towel lined plate to drain.
Add onions to the skillet (and 1 tbsp butter, if desired) and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are golden brown and very tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

Take enough dough for one pizza and place on a lightly floured surface. Flatten the dough into an 8-inch disk, then stretch the edges gently until the dough is 10-12-inches in diameter, rotating the dough by quarter turns as you work. You can also gently stretch the dough by placing it on the backs of your hands, letting the weight of the dough stretch it out.
Transfer pizza dough to a pizza peel or a lightly floured baking sheet before topping (a pizza stone will get you the best results, but this can be baked directly on a baking sheet). Spread about 1/4 cup of marinara sauce very thinly over the crust. Top with half of the pancetta, half of the onions and half of the coarsely crumbled goat cheese. Sprinkle half of the shredded mozzarella over the pizza.
Slide pizza into preheated oven and bake for 8-12 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese has melted.
Serve pizza immediately. Repeat steps with remaining piece of dough.

Makes 2 pizzas; Serves 4-8.