Monday, November 08, 2010

Rosemary Bread Recipe

By popular demand, here is the homemade rosemary bread recipe. I made this after reading The Search by Nora Roberts. The heroine had a friend who made her the bread and homemade minestrone soup too. And I thought, mmm, sounds good. Then I got busy in the kitchen and made both. I have the recipe home made minestrone as well.  Will post that one at a later date. It's the easiest soup recipe ever. (and I am not kidding!) But for now, here's the bread.

Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • Optional: 1 full heaping teaspoon of either garlic pepper or garlic powder
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 egg, beaten (optional)
Directions
1.     Dissolve the sugar in warm water in a medium bowl, and mix in the yeast.
2.   Optional: grind 1 1/2 tblspoons rosemary, add other seasonings, set aside. This releases the oils and reduces the woody spikes of the rosemary.
3.   When yeast is bubbly, mix in salt, butter, 1 tablespoon rosemary, and Italian seasoning. Mix in 2 cups flour. Gradually add remaining flour to form a workable dough, and knead 10 to 12 minutes.
4.     Coat the inside of a large bowl with olive oil. Place dough in bowl, cover, and allow to rise 1 hour in a warm location.
5.     Punch down dough, and divide in half. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly grease paper. Shape dough into 2 round loaves, and place on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining rosemary. Cover, and allow to rise 1 hour, or until doubled in size. (Optional tip: if you toss a little bit of corn meal down and then put the bread on that, you bake up a nice bottem.)
6.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
7.     Brush loaves with egg. Bake 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. The egg wash makes them golden and helps the crust form. (Optional: you can also toss ice cubes into the oven, or an oven safe dish while baking to get a thicker crust. it's an old breadmaker's tip, the steam helps a crust form.)

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