Thursday, June 12, 2008

Rosemary!

I came across this recipe this morning, and made it -- only takes a couple of hours. As I usually do, I wish it had risen more -- there's something about getting dough to rise that I just don't get -- but it wasn't a big deal -- I just told myself it was a puffy flatbread. The rosemary was a faint aftertaste, which was good, and the sea salt on the crust was an excellent touch. I found the original recipe on Make and Takes.

Rosemary Bread

* 1 packet dry yeast (or 2 1/2 tsp)
* 2 c. warm water
* 1 T. sugar
* 2 tsp salt
* 4 c. flour
* 1-2 tsp. fresh Rosemary plus more for topping
* Olive Oil, Corn meal, Melted butter and salt

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and sugar.

Add flour, salt, and 1-2 tsp Rosemary and stir until blended, do not Knead!!

Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until double in size. If you have a Bosch Mixer, I keep the dough right in there with the top lid on, it’s nice and moist in there. Or simply keep it in the mixer bowl and cover with a moist cloth to raise.

Remove dough. It will be sticky.

Place it in 2 rounds on a cookie sheet lightly coated in olive oil and sprinkled with corn meal. OR you can place it on your silicone baking mat with no oil.

Cover with a towel or greased plastic wrap.

Let it rise another hour.

Brush each round with melted butter and lightly sprinkle with more Rosemary and sea salt

Bake @ 425 for 10 minutes, then reduce temp to 375 for 15 minutes more
.

2 comments:

Lone Chatelaine said...

A few things about getting dough to rise that my grandma taught me. The first is that yeast is a living thing, and salt kills it. The salt can be mixed with the flour, but if it's directly mixed in with the yeast and sugar liquid, it will kill the yeast and the dough won't rise well.

Also, heat kills yeast. Only lukewarm water should be used. Hot water will kill the yeast.

Yeast has an expiration date, so make sure to check that on the package.

The room needs to be really warm, like 75-80 degrees for the dough to rise well.

Bread dough rises better on rainy and stormy days. Something about the barometric pressure giving the dough less air to push against.

I never truly understood that one, but I totally believe every word she ever told me.

Cerulean Bill said...

Sounds like your grandmother was pretty smart...