Pizza Bread

Ingredients

• 1 unsliced Italian bread boule (or whatever type you prefer)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 pound mild Italian sausage
• 3 T butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 T Parmesan cheese
• Pizza sauce for serving

Directions

1. In a medium skillet, brown sausage and crumble as it cooks. Drain well and set aside. Prepare a baking pan by lining it with aluminum foil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Carefully slice the bread in long slices, taking care not go all the way through. Turn the bread 90 degrees and cut slices the opposite direction, again leaving the bottom connected. The second set of cuts will be a little more difficult to make. If your bread is very soft, you may want to put it in the refrigerator for about thirty minutes before you try to cut it so it is a little easier. The cuts don't have to be perfect.
3. Next start tucking the crumbled sausage and the shredded cheese into the cuts in the bread, pack it in as much as possible.
4. In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese. Pour butter mixture over the top of the bread.
5. Cover the bread with another piece of foil, molding it down around the bread, and bake about fifteen minutes, uncover and continue baking about ten more minutes until the top is golden and the cheese is all melted. Serve warm with pizza sauce.