Today is going to be a special one, and you’ll see why in
just a few minutes. First, ask yourself
what your favorite smells are. Fresh flowers? Pizza?
Hot cookies fresh out of the oven?
Hold that thought, and think of how those scents make you feel, and when
you smell them when you’re out and about, what do they remind you of?
The reason I’m asking you those questions before getting to
the heart of the matter is that this Blog post is going to hit at one of the
most powerful things that I can remember growing up. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I grew
up on a farm in rural Montana, and my mom and both grandmas used to make
everything from scratch. Jams, pickles,
breads, and even macaroni and cheese were all homemade, as the nearest town
with a decent grocery story was over 30 miles away.
Memory is a powerful thing, especially when it comes to
smells. When I think back to those
simple days as a kid on the farm, I can start to smell the chicken coop, the
dirt on the gravel road, the lilac bushes around Grandma’s garden that
attracted the bees, and even the smell of Grandma’s house itself (a century-old
farmhouse from the Homestead Act days). Even
as I’m writing these words, my mind goes back to the days before I was even 4
feet tall, and I can clearly recall – and even smell – the warm, inviting,
wafting deliciousness of Mom’s kitchen on fall afternoons after school when she
had decided to make homemade bread.
Now, my mom’s homemade bread isn’t the subject of this Blog,
but I’m going to hit you with something equally as awesome. I’ve been making this at home for a couple
years now – more recently – and it’s one of the most amazing, quick, easy bread
recipes that I know. And when you pop
the loaves in the oven, it doesn’t take long before your entire house is filled
with the soothing, aromatic promise of hot, fresh bread. I don’t know about you, but it’s enough to
soothe any savage beast. There’s just
nothing quite like fresh bread right out of the oven.
Ok, let’s get to it. This recipe makes two loaves of bread, and they’re going to be a little smaller than a “standard” loaf of sandwich bread. But because it’s so easy, it’ll be ok that you gobble it up as fast as you can make it. And trust me, you’re want to go get your paws on some good olive oil and some aged Balsamic vinegar. You’ll thank me.
You’re going to need a few things before you get
started. You’ll need some sort of mixer with
a dough hook (or mixing bowl and a stiff wooden spoon if you don’t have one), a
glass bowl big enough for a volleyball, yeast, olive oil, butter, flour, sugar,
salt, water, and fresh herbs. For my
herbs I use half rosemary and half thyme, although this bread works beautifully
with either one. Another alternative is
fresh oregano. It’s really your choice;
this is a win-win-win sort of deal.
First, fill a glass measuring cup with 1c. of warm – not hot
– water. If it’s too hot, it’ll kill the
yeast. No Bueno. Add 1Tbsp. of sugar and 1 packet of yeast
(1/4 oz.). If you’re using yeast out of
the jar, then 1/4oz. = 2 ¼ tsp. Let that
get happy for about 5 minutes, or until it’s really frothy. Meanwhile, melt 2Tbsp. of butter in the
microwave (or you could just let it get to a nice, soft room temperature, but
that’ll be awhile). Pour the yeast
mixture and the butter (make sure the butter isn’t too hot!!) into the bowl of
your mixer, add 2Tbsp. of olive oil, 1tsp. of salt, and about 2-3 Tbsp. of
whatever herbs you’re using. Make sure
the herbs are chopped up nice and fine.
Finally, add 2 ½ c. of flour and start the mixer on low speed with the
dough hook attached. If you’re using the
bowl-and-wooden-spoon method, get your elbow grease out and start going.
As the mixer goes, you’ll start to see the dough come
together. After it starts to form into
one mass, let it go for about another 5 minutes, and then turn off the mixer
and see how sticky it is. With the 2 ½ cups
of flour you already added, it should be firm and a tiny bit tacky, but not
overly sticky or loose. If it is, add ½ c.
flour and try again. Once it’s the right
consistency, knead in the mixer or by hand for 10 minutes. Put about 1 Tbsp. olive oil into the glass
bowl and turn the dough out into it.
Personally, I like to manhandle the dough for a few minutes before I put
it in the bowl with oil. I turn it over
a few times in my hands and shape it into a ball. What can I say? I love handling dough J
Roll the dough over a couple times to coat evenly with oil,
then cover the bowl with a clean dishtowel and let it rise until roughly
doubled in size. How long this takes
depends on how healthy your yeast is, how much of the sugar they decided to
eat, and how warm your kitchen is. Just
walk away and give it awhile. I start
with about an hour. Once it’s doubled in
size, take a cookie sheet and grease it lightly with olive oil. Remove the towel from the dough bowl and
(literally) punch the dough down. Yes, I
really do mean punch it. You’ll notice
it’s light and airy; evidence that the yeast has been working hard. Remove the punched-down dough from the bowl
and divide in half. Shape each half of
the bread into nice rounds and place them on the oiled baking sheet. Cover again with the towel and let rise until
roughly doubled. After about 45 minutes,
you should be about there, and the unbaked loaves should looking something like
this:
While the rounds are rising for the final time, preheat your
oven to 375 degrees (350 if you have a convection oven) and make sure the rack
is in the middle. Once you’re satisfied
that they’ve risen as much as they need, throw them in the oven for 20
minutes. Yep, that’s it. Once 20 minutes is up, they should be nice
and golden on the top and should sound a bit hollow when tapped. Oh, and one more thing…your whole house
should smell AWESOME!!
Once the bread comes out of the oven, I like to brush the top with some melted butter. You don’t have to, but I prefer it. It certainly doesn’t make or break the experience, so do one of each if you want to compare. All said and done, you’ll get two loaves that look something like this:
Now, I believe I mentioned something about oil and Balsamic
vinegar…tear into this bread and get to work!
Ok, well that about does it for the Blog this time. Try this awesome bread out and see what you
think. Feel free to leave me a comment,
or send me an email at fearnotyourkitchen@gmail.com if you want to let me know if you tweaked anything that turned out awesome.
Until next time, friends!
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