2 posts tagged “bread”
Itching to use some of my new baking related Christmas gifts I made a loaf of rosemary olive bread yesterday. It's a simple flour, yeast, water, salt recipe with the addition of olives and rosemary. It's easy to assemble, but takes a few hours to make due to multiple risings. The recipe is from Williams Sonoma, although I made a few slight changes.
2 1/2 t (7g) active dry yeast (1 package)
2 C warm water (110 F)
5 C bread flour
1 C whole wheat flour
2 1/2 t salt
1/3 C kalamata olives, chopped
1/3 C nicoise olives, chopped
1 T fresh rosemary, chopped
Combine the yeast and water in a bowl and allow to proof for 5-10 minutes.
Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl (or mixer with bread hook) and add the yeast & water mixture. Knead for 15 minutes or 10-12 minutes in a mixer on medium. Since this is a Williams Sonoma recipe they assume you have a stand mixer and bread hook and didn't provide by hand instructions. Kneading this dough by hand helped me understand how the smooth and satiny texture of finished dough develops. Folding in the warmth from your hands into the dough seems to help the dough transform as well.
Cover the dough and allow to rise until doubled, about an hour.
After this second rising press the dough flat on a floured surface and fold the sides of the dough under itself. Pinch the bottom together to form a ball. Cover and allow to rise again for 30-40 minutes.
While the dough rises for the final time preheat the oven to 400. Using a technique I learned from reading Peter Reinhart I preheated the oven to 450 and then turned it down to 400 after I put the dough in, as you lose a good amount of heat when you open the oven to insert the dough. Williams Sonoma suggests you bake the bread in a special round stoneware baker that they sell, but I used a pizza stone and large Pyrex bowl. You could also use a large dutch oven.
Insert the dough into the oven and cover. Bake for about an hour.
The loaf will turn golden brown and sound hollow when you tap the bottom when finished. Baking the loaf covered allows for more even heating, which is perfect for our oven which is a different temperature every couple inches. This bread turned out well with a crunchy crust and moist interior. It's also delicious.
This is a quick and easy yeast rising bread that requires little kneading. The herbs and onion add just enough savoriness and depth without any of them outshining or overpowering the balance of flavors.
0.5 C milk - I used yogurt
1.5 T sugar - I used honey
1 t salt
1 T butter - I used chunky natural apple sauce
1 package yeast
0.5 C warm water
2.25 C flour, whole wheat or white - I used whole wheat
0.5 small onion, minced
0.5 t dried dill
1 t crushed, dried rosemary
Scald the milk, followed by the honey, salt and applesauce then cool to room temp. Dissolve the yeast in warm water in a large bowl. Add the room temp milk mixture, flour, herbs and minced onion. Stir all ingredients with a wooden spoon, coat the dough ball with olive oil and cover with a towel to rise.
After the dough triples in size beat down for a few minutes and put into a greased loaf pan. I cut slits in the top of it before baking this time, but it did not rise enough while baking for them to have any real effect.
Let stand for 10 minutes in a warm place then bake at 350 for about an hour.
I think the substitutions I made this time hindered it from rising properly. Whole wheat flour is difficult to get to rise in the same way as all purpose flour as well. I liked the flavor of the yogurt, but next time I think I will add a little more water and maybe add the honey to the yeast/water to help it proof. This bread pairs well with a hearty and savory soup, as I mentioned below in the garlic pea soup post.
