Braided Spaghetti Bread

Retrieved from Rhodes Bake-N-Serv Blog, with our own revisions.

Ingredients:

• 1 Loaf of frozen bread dough, thawed to room temperature
• 6 oz. spaghetti, cooked
• 1 cup thick spaghetti sauce (we make our our own sauce: see instructions below for our own sauce recipe and ingredients)
• 8 oz. mozzerella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 egg white
• Parmesan cheese
• Parsley flakes

Instructions for our spaghetti sauce (which was Nanny's recipe):

1. In a large bowl, empty a can of whole peeled tomatoes, and squeeze, leaving a few tomato pulps in the juice.
2. Add tomato paste until desired thickness (for this recipe, we suggest the thicker the better to avoid liquid oozing out of the bread during cooking).
3. In a pan, add a thin layer of olive oil to heat.  Once heated, add chopped garlics (about 3 to 4 cloves of garlic) and saute until lightly golden brown.
4. Add already made sauce into pan, stir.  Add your own flavorings to taste; we use a dash of salt and pepper, a couple tablespoons of sugar, shredded basil leaves, crushed dried red pepper flakes, and Oregeno or Italian Seasoning.

Instructions for Braided Spaghetti Bread:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray counter lightly with non-stick cooking spray (or use parchment paper).
3. Roll bread dough into a 12x6 inch retangle, using flour to reduce sticking to rolling pin.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
4. Cook spaghetti according to package instructions.  Drain and let cool slightly.
5. Remove wrap from dough.  Place spaghetti lengthwise in a 4-inch strip down the center of dough.  Tip with sauce (we like the more sauce the better for taste) and cheese cubes.  (You can add other favorites, such as pepperoni or sausage.)
6. Make cuts 1 1/2-inches apart on long sides of dough within 1/2-inch of filling. Begin braid by folding top and bottom strips toward filling.  Then braid strips left over right, right over left.  Finish by pulling last strip over and tucking under braid.
7. Carefully lift braid with both hands and place on large sprayed baking sheet (or transfer parchment paper to baking sheet).  
8. Brush braided dough with egg white and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley (you can also add garlic powder).
9. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool slightly, cut into strips of desired size, and serve.

Jason and I found this on Pinterest and have made this a few times, each time revising the recipe somewhat.  Tres delicious!