Rosemary-Garlic Bread

Rosemary Garlic Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 packet +1 teaspoon active dry yeast

• 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups warm water

• 2 tsp sugar

• 1 tbsp salt

• 6 tbsp olive oil

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 cup whole wheat flour

• 1/2 cup ground flax

• 2 tbsp dried rosemary or 3 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary

• 1 to 2 heads of roasted garlic*

• extra oil for brushing on top

• coarse sea salt for sprinkling on top

1. *To roast heads of garlic, slice off the top to expose some of the cloves. Place on foil, drizzle olive oil on garlic head and loosely wrap foil around garlic. Bake in a preheat 400°F oven for 30 minutes. Allow to cool before removing skin. Using a fork or back of a spoon, mash garlic into a paste.

2. In bowl of stand mixer, add all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, flax, rosemary, garlic paste, yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil.

3. Attach dough hook, and on low speed, water until dough starts to form and no dry ingredients remain - about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as necessary. Increase speed to medium-low and knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Dough should clear sides of bowl and begin to stick to bottom, about 6 to 8 minutes.

4. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface, divide into two, and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball, about 1 minute for each piece of dough.

5. Place dough, seam side down, in lightly greased containers. Cover with plastic wrap and towel, place in a warm place to rise until double in size - about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

6. After dough has doubled, punch down and shape into rounded loaves.

7. Using a sharp knife, make an X on top of loaves; place on greased baking sheets.

8. Cover loaves with plastic wrap and invert large mixing bowls over loaves. Bowls should be large enough to give loaves room to rise. Let rise until double in size, about 1 hour.

9. After dough has risen, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with more rosemary and sea salt.

10. In a preheat 375°F oven, place a heated heavy skillet on the lower rack of oven and pour 1 cup boiling water into it.

11. Bake bread for 30 to 35 minutes; until loaves are a nice golden brown.

Yields: 2 loaves

Dough after second rising

Notes&Tips:

• In a pinch, you can roast garlic in a toaster oven, it saves half the time and is just as fragrant and delicious. Cut top off of head of garlic and separate cloves, drizzle with olive oil. Lay cloves side by side on one half of foil and fold in edges. Roast at 400°F for about 15 minutes.

• For weeks I have been planning to bake some bread, but I never seem to have enough hours (and bread do require time). Yesterday was a dreary, cold, rainy day and I knew I wanted to make soup for dinner. As always soup and bread go hand in hand and I had the time to dedicate to it.

• I never just like using all purpose flour; I had some spelt flour I needed to use up and I like putting ground flax or flax seeds in my baked goods as they have some excellent nutrients. Feel free to just use all purpose or even add some whole wheat.

• Since my house felt a bit cold and there was no sunshine, I heated my oven on its lowest setting for 5 minutes, then turned it off and place dough to rise in the oven. It rose beautifully within 1 hour.

• This was an easy recipe but baking bread requires some time. It was well worth the time I put into it. My family could not get enough of this bread. We just buttered it and ate it on the side with the delicious Vegetable Bean Soup.

• Using a stand mixer to knead dough, takes out a lot of the "heavy lifting" in kneading. I used to watch my mom knead dough for bread and I bet her muscles didn't thank her afterwards!

• Fresh or dried rosemary works in this bread. I used dried rosemary in the dough and sprinkled chopped fresh rosemary before baking. My rosemary was dried last fall and was still very fragrant.

• I've often roasted whole garlic in a toaster oven. This way you don't have to heat up the oven for just the garlic unless you're cooking other things in it. Roast for 18 to 20 minutes on 400°F.