Saturday, June 11, 2011

Rosemary Bread

This was my first time ever making bread. I had a few struggles at first, mainly dealing with getting the yeast to be active, but once I got that all figured out it was quite simple. I think why most people don't make bread from scratch is probably because it is just time consuming. This bread takes maybe about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to make, which is actually quite short compared to most.

Rosemary Bread

1 1/2 tsp dry active yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup water
5 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil - plus more for bowl
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus whole leaves for top of bread
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup whole wheat flour


Stir together yeast and 1/4 cup warm water in large bowl, let sit for about 7 minutes - until foamy.

Add 3/4 cup water, olive oil, sugar, salt, rosemary, all purpose flour, and wheat flour. Stir mixture together. Dust counter top with flour and knead dough. Flatten dough to a round disk, and fold back towards yourself, and with palm of hands push away from yourself. Repeat process about 4-5 times, until dough sticks together and you can form a round ball. Place round ball of dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with a towel in a warm draft free spot. Let rise for 1 hour.

Punch down dough, let rest covered for 15 minutes.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Roll dough into two 11 inch loaves, gently twist each loaf to create contours. Transfer to a baking sheet, and press rosemary leaves into top of bread. Loosely cover baking sheet with towel, and let rise in a warm draft free spot for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Dust loaves with flour and bake for 30 minutes.

No comments:

Post a Comment