I love baking bread. I wish I had more time to make it, even though it really doesn’t take long, but my one day off a week is usually spent trying to clean my house. However, some days I forsake a freshly dusted home and settle for clean laundry and fresh baked bread.

This particular week, I wanted to make some bread and fill it with meat for dinner on Wednesday. I had purchased some ground pork from the international market and wanted to use that for the filling but was at a loss of how to season it. Anyway, I had recently purchased my yeast in a jar (I LOVE YEAST IN A JAR!!!! I’m buying it this way from now on…for ever!)

I used my basic recipe for yeast bread and let it proof.  I called my mother and asked for advice about my ground pork. She suggested I use some sage and thyme along with salt and pepper. She said I would need something to keep it from drying out so I would need something to keep it moist, like broth and I agreed. I didn’t want to add cheese because I didn’t want it to have a cheeseburger-y feel and I thought the broth would make it too liquidy. I scrounged in my frig and found some Philadelphia Cooking Crème – Eureka! I seasoned the meat with sage, thyme, salt and pepper and a couple of heaping spoonfuls of cooking crème. I gave it a taste and I was impressed.

An hour later, I punched down my dough. I dumped the dough out onto my countertop and started pinching off pieces to make my “meat bread pies”.

I made pinched off the pieces and flattened them.

I then added the meat mixture.

I then pinched the ends together and then twisted.

I placed them on a greased pan twisted side down. I let them rise while I went to pick up Babydoll from school.

When I got home, I brushed the tops with a little butter and placed them in the oven to bake for 15 minutes. I didn’t want them to cook completely because they were for dinner on Wednesday.

I ended up with a dozen “meat bread pies” and I placed them in the frig until Wednesday.

When we had them for dinner, I was very happy to say that my idea was successful. I gave a few of them to my mother as a thank you for the advice on seasoning. She loved them. The Babydoll loved them. It was a good way to go all around.

Later I was speaking with some co-workers about my experiment, and they told me that it sounded like I had made kolaches.  Although, I’ve heard of them, I’ve never eaten one so I can only take there word for it.  I do know that I’ll be making them again soon.