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Italian Sausage and Cheese Bread – A Game-Time Favorite

Sliced Italian Sausage Bread

Fresh from the oven this homemade Italian Sausage and Cheese Bread is a showstopper at parties. Sweet Italian sausage with provolone cheese rolled into a bread dough and baked until golden brown. It’s a simple recipe that I’ve been making for years. Perfect for football Sundays it is a meal in itself. But sausage bread also goes great with other appetizers and looks awesome on the party buffet. For more variety make this together with Pepperoni and Cheese Bread, equally delicious!

Jump to Recipe

Italian Sausage bread is assembled ahead of time and then baked about an hour or so before serving. If you are not intimidated working with bread dough, this is really a very simple recipe with not a lot of ingredients and is quite easy to put together. I use an almost no-knead dough recipe that I make the night before, but any good bread recipe works. When I am planning to serve sausage bread for a late afternoon game I prepare and assemble this in the morning and then let rise and bake a couple of hours before I want to serve. It is best served while still warm.

Making the Bread Dough

Sausage bread can be made with any type of bread dough dough recipe, honestly. Technically if you’re not a bread baker, you could even use frozen bread or pizza dough. (If you must). But mixing up bread dough is so easy, and the taste is so much better, that I was never a fan of the frozen dough route. I use a simple French bread dough recipe of flour, salt, yeast and water and a small amount of lager and vinegar for flavor. Combine these ingredients in a bowl until just incorporated, cover and let rise for 12-18 hours.

Sausage and Cheese Filling

Brown the sausage and drain on a paper towel.

Bulk Italian Sausage browning in a pan

Roll the dough out to a 12 inch by 7-inch rectangle. Place browned sausage across the dough and add strips of cheese across the top leaving about an inch of the dough across the long edge on one side.

Bread dough with sausage and cheese on top

Fold over the other long edge and roll like a jelly roll, being careful to incorporate all the sausage and cheese into the loaf. Pinch the seam together and place seam side down in a French bread loaf pan, or on a baking sheet lined with parchment.

  • Roll dough over sausage and cheese like a jelly roll
  • Rolled French Loaf with edges pinched together

Let rise for 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Cut steam vents into the top of the loaf before baking.

Pepperoni and Sausage Bread loaves rising in a loaf pan

Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown. For a crispy crust, I place a shallow pan of water under the loaf. Let cool 20 minutes before cutting into the loaf.

Baked Loaves of Pepperoni and Sausage Bread

Use a serrated knife to slice on an angle. Enjoy while still warm, but note that leftovers can be wrapped in foil reheated in a 325F oven. Still delicious!

Sliced Italian Sausage Bread
Print Recipe

Italian Sausage and Cheese Bread

This homemade bread loaf combines Italian sausage and provolone cheese inside a fresh bread dough that is rolled up into a French loaf and baked to golden brown. The "almost No-Knead' dough is adapted from the America's Test Kitchen version of the dough used in no-knead bread, but any bread dough recipe can also be substituted.
Prep Time20 minutes mins
Cook Time40 minutes mins
Almost No-Knead Dough16 hours hrs
Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Snack
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Football Appetizer, Italian Sausage Bread, Sausage Bread
Servings: 8

Equipment

  • French Loaf Pan or sheet pan
  • Large Bowl
  • Fry Pan

Ingredients

  • 16 oz Sweet or Hot Italian Sausage
  • 1/2 lb sliced provolone (torn into strips)

Dough

  • 3 cups Bread Flour
  • 1 tsp Instant Yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1-1/2 cup water (Plus 2 tbsp)
  • 6 tbsp Lager Beer
  • 2 tbsp white vinegar

Instructions

  • Mix together all the bread ingredients in a glass bowl and combine until a shaggy dough ball forms.
  • Cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 12-18 hours.
  • Remove dough from bowl and knead gently for about 8-10 kneads until have a smooth dough. Let rest for 10 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, brown the Italian sausage and set aside on a paper towel to drain.
  • Divide dough into 2. Roll out each half to a rectangle 12 inches long by 7 inches wide. Top each with half the sausage and half the cheese, leaving an inch along the long edge on one side. Starting on the opposite long edge, roll the dough over onto the sausage and cheese like a jelly roll forming a long loaf. Pinch edges closed making sure to seal well to prevent from bursting while baking. Place each loaf into a french bread pan or onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. Cover and let rise for 1 to 1-1/2 hour.
  • Preheat oven to 375F. Using a sharp knife add small slits to the top of each loaf for steam to escape. Bake for 35-40 minutes. If using a french bread pan put a baking pan under the loaves in the oven to catch any cheese or juices bubbling from the loaves. Add water to the pan under the loaves to create steam in the oven and crisp the loaves. Remove from oven when golden brown.
  • Let loaf cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing. Serve while still warm.

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I’m Jeanine, and I am excited to have you visit fuutii.com! I started this site to share recipes and great foods I’ve curated through my years of cooking for a family with varying tastes from vegetarian to meat lover to the picky eater. With roots in the upper Midwest, many of the recipes feature foods local to this area, and recipes passed down from the amazing cooks I've learned from. I hope you enjoy these great food finds and “fuutii” travel throughout the region!

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