Braided baked chicken

One word. Delicious.

You know I don't usually blog about savory stuff. Not that I don't love to cook and I do quite often, but this blog is more about learning to bake and sharing the experience on the way. Well, this braid is worth sharing and being as it is, baked, it's not really cheating. Right? right.

I made this as part of my small feast for my friend S birthday party, which included paraguayan corn bread, cake, skewers and other goodies. According to birthday girl it's like a giant hot pocket but much better. There were absolutely no leftovers and it was gone in a minute.

B-day girl enjoying her giant 'hot pocket' filled with chicken

The dough is homemade and the filling is a combination of grilled chicken, tomato sauce and monterey jack. You can change the tomato sauce for barbeque sauce, fry the chicken, throw in turkey or a different kind of ground meat, add more or less cheese. If anything this recipe is very versatile. And really the only thing that takes a bit of work is the homemade bread dough, but it's totally worth it!

Here's the recipe, adapted from Mangio da sola via Remena Nena

Printable recipe

For the dough
2 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
3/4 cups lukewarm water

Mix the yeast with the lukewarm water and the tablespoon of sugar and let it proof. Add the yeast to the bread flour and stir in the vegetable oil. Knead the dough for about 8 minutes until it's smooth and not sticky at all. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let it rise until doubled in volume. I let it rise overnight in the fridge. Deflate the dough and roll until it's about half an inch thick.

For the filling

2 cups grilled chicken breasts, shredded (I pulled them apart with two forks)

1 1/2 cups homemade (or bought) tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups monterey jack shredded

Herbs for seasoning

In a bowl, combine the chicken with the tomato sauce. Place the mixture in the center of the bread dough. Top with the seasonings (I used oregano) and sprinkle the cheese on top. Slice the sides of the dough in stripes and cross them over the chicken to form a braid. Bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes until bread is golden and cheese is melted. Cut and enjoy while still warm.

This recipe was submitted to Yeastspotting, check it out!