I had a plate of antipasto and pizza toppings leftover from a recent dinner with friends.
There were slices of pancetta flat, fresh and matured mozzarella, sundried tomato, baked ricotta, fig paste, a few basil leaves and a solitary stuffed chilli pepper…
I chopped all the leftovers up and added them to a batch of Joanna’s white toast bread dough. I included the antipasto in at the initial kneading stage, and then proceeded as usual, although I baked the dough in two smaller loaf pans rather than one large one (to accommodate the increased bulk).
Even though this lovely, versatile recipe is yeast based, it seems to produce loaves that keep very well – these were still fresh enough to eat untoasted the following day.
We served the loaves cut into thick slices and slathered with fresh ricotta – a quick and easy mid-week lunch!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
My that looks splendid and exclusive! Do you ever say to your family ‘Enjoy this, because it’s a one-off, never to be repeated, unique and special bread.’ That’s what I say when something happy and serendipitous comes out of the leftovers! Unless of course you are a chef in which case you would write it up and put it in your next cook book ;)
But joking apart, yum yum yum!
Just have to say, Yummy!
What a delicious use of leftovers! Those loaves look fab Celia, and ricotta sounds like the perfect partner.
I’ve taken the liberty of doing an ‘In my kitchen’ post – inspired by yours!
Edit: Here’s C’s post! Celia x
http://cakecrumbsandcooking.blogspot.com/2011/04/in-my-kitchen-april-2011.html
This looks great! What a fun idea.
I love the way you never seem to waste anything – doesn’t happen enough as our place. They look great.
This looks like a pretty fine lunch to me – it would also be nice as focaccia and perfect for kids lunch boxes, I suspect.
Sounds scrummy and a great way to use up left-overs!
I think you deserve to be crownded queen waste not want not. If only we could all create such fabulous things from leftovers, there would be a lot less waste in the world.
You’re awesome! What a great idea with leftovers. I love it when you end up wasting not a smidge of food. Doesn’t happen often enough at our place
Joanna, thank you for the wonderful white bread recipe! It really is very useful! :)
Joanne, Dianne, Scrambled, thank you! :)
C, love your kitchen post, thanks for joining in! :)
Dave, Claire, Sonia, thank you, but we still end up wasting some – drives me crazy. It’s much nicer now we have chooks and worms though – between them, they eat almost everything that used to get thrown out! :)
Amanda, I’d normally throw the bits and pieces into a filled focaccia, but decided it would be nice to mix things up a bit this time.
The finished loaves reminded me a bit of Bakers Delight pull-aparts, which we were buying before we started baking our own bread…
What an incredible loaf – a meal all on it’s own.
:-) Mandy
Beautiful bread, Celia. I’m thinking that it must have smelt wonderful.
Looks delicious! What is matured mozzarella like?
Noice!
And the ingredients will have gone a long way to giving you a moist, stay-fresh loaf too.
I made sourdough rolls with a little evoo a couple of days ago, and the last one is still good enough to eat today toasted.
Gill, it’s amazing how well this loaf kept! I was quite astounded. Your rolls look grand.. :)
What a clever concept. What will you think of next! ;)
Ah well, I guess it depends what leftovers we have! ;-) Thanks love..
Great idea!! Looks like a lovely loaf.
Always love to pop in and see what you’ve baked up, Celia!
I think this loaf would be perfect with any pairing! Or just as toast. Thanks for sharing- again- you always have something innovative and enticing!
I keep meaning to try this. We watched a program last night that used blueberries in the buns. So many options!
Maz
What a great idea, I can’t wait to try it.
Whata way to go…
Now that’s some clever thinking, you’ve really got this bread thing down to a fine art Celia :)
Mrs B, Deb, Norma, thank you! :)
Heidi, I guess we could always have just eaten the antipasto the following day, but it’s always nice to rework leftovers into a new meal! Given how well this kept, I’m quite inspired next time to try and make it into school rolls as well.
Maz, once you start including things into bread, it opens up a whole new world of options! :)
Anna, thanks girlfriend! Now…isn’t this your year of baking? ;-)
Oh, leftover bread – I bet that was lovely with all those amazing ingredients. But what is baked ricotta – something you do yourself?
Choc, yes, homemade baked ricotta! We can buy baked ricotta here easily, but a friend recently suggested that I just make it whenever I had leftover fresh ricotta that was getting a little old. It worked a treat. I wrote about it here:
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2011/04/25/easter-brunch/
Ah yes, so you did and I read about it too! My poor brain can’t cope any more. Anyway, it sounds wonderful, I’m pretty sure your blog is the only place I’ve come across it before.
How yummy! What a great idea!
Wow–like pizza in a bread. Sort of. I’m imagining it spread with tapenade or even an eggplant dip. Yum!
M.
Becca, thanks! :)
Mark, it really would be great with an eggplant dip – great idea, thanks!