Rosemary Bread

I know I've been on a little bit of a yeast kick lately, but man oh man is it ever worth it for this bread. This bread is just So. Unbelievably. Good. Whenever I make a new recipe I always watch Darrell as he tries it so I can see his reaction, which of course once he figured that out he started intentionally making gross faces just to get a rise out of me. But this bread? He took his first bite and all he could say was "It's just... Incredible". Couldn't even get an insult out or anything. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I could keep rambling on about this, but let's just cut to the chase. Make this recipe--and make it soon.

I'd like to be cutesy and say that I intentionally took a picture of the bread after breaking some pieces off so that you could see how light and flaky it is, but in reality I just ate that much of the bread before regaining my senses and remembering to take a picture

Rosemary Bread

(I'm forever indebted to this website for introducing me to this recipe)

1 tbsp dry yeast

1 tbsp sugar

1 cup warm water

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp dried rosemary, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter, melted

Olive Oil for dipping if desired (we sprinkled some Italian seasonings and parmesan into ours, but using balsamic vinegar with the olive oil would probably be just as tasty)

Preheat the oven to warm, or about 200*. Combine the yeast, sugar, and water; mix until frothy. Add 2 cups of the flour, salt, and half of the rosemary. Knead the dough for a few minutes (I did this with a spoon because the dough was still quite sticky at this point). Add the rest of the flour as necessary, 1/2 a cup at at time, until the dough gets soft and stretchy without being overly sticky (a little stickiness is okay). Turn the oven off. Pour the olive oil into a separate bowl and move the dough into it. Roll the dough a few times to coat it in the oil. Cover the bowl with a cloth and place it into the warm oven. Let it rise until doubled in size, approximately one hour. After it has risen, punch it down and knead it again. Then divide the dough into two equal sized lumps and let them sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Shape the dough into oval loaves and place them on the pan. Brush them with the melted butter (all of it--they will be quite saturated) and sprinkle the remaining rosemary on top (press them in lightly if they don't look like they'll stick. Return dough to the oven and let it rise for another 45 minutes. Remove the dough and sprinkle them with some salt (original recipe calls for using kosher salt at this step--I didn't have any and they came out just fine). Preheat the oven to 450* and bake the bread for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned (the original recipe called for 20-25 minutes, but I checked mine after 12 and it was perfectly done, so I'm not sure about the baking times. Just keep an eye on it the first few times you make it until you're comfortable with how your oven cooks it--and trust me, after you make this once, there will be more times).

I know I've said this before, but working with yeast is really not that intimidating. And I won't go so far as to say that I promise my oven method will work, but I'm convinced that if you follow these directions you'll get a beautifully risen--and subsequently soft and light--loaf of bread. Now please, do yourself and your loved ones a favor and make this bread!

PS The recipe may yield two loaves, but don't expect it to last long. And please don't think about cutting the recipe in half. I promise you that you'll regret it. At the very least, if you aren't a carb fiend like Darrell and I (we ate through both loaves in less than 24 hours), give the second loaf away and make someone else's day. But whatever you do, just make this bread!