This
is the best bread. The first time I made
it I ate almost the entire loaf by myself. (don’t tell.)
Have
you ever seen a recipe and thought “I should make that” and then you don’t? I saw this recipe over on the Prudent
Homemaker about 3 years ago, and I thought
“I should make that” and then I didn’t.
I
finally made this recipe for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I wish I had made it sooner.
When I
bake round loafs I often have a hard time determining when to take them out of
the oven. I recently learned that you
can use a thermometer to measure the internal temperature. For white loafs 195 degrees for whole grain loafs 210 degrees.
Recipe
adapted from The Prudent
Homemaker
Rosemary
Olive Oil Bread
2 cups hot water, (105 to
110)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry
yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
5-6 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons dried
rosemary
In
your mixing bowl, proof the yeast by adding the yeast into the warm water. Let it sit for 5 minutes until nice and
bubbly.
Add sugar,
olive oil, salt and rosemary. Mix well,
add flour 1 cup at a time mixing between each cup. You have added enough flour with the dough
sticks together scraping the side of the bowl clean.
If
using an electric stand mixer knead 5-6 minutes. If kneading by hand, knead 10 minutes on a
floured surface, turning and folding well.
Pull
all sides of the dough into the center, making a big ball. This stretches the
gluten and makes a higher loaf. Put the dough in the bowl with the smooth side
on top. Spray the top of the dough with cooking spray. Cover with a clean damp
cloth over the top for 1 hour, or until double in size.
Take
dough out of the bowl, and punch down. Pull the edges into the middle all the way
around to make a ball. Cover let rest
for 10 minutes.
Form
dough into the loaf shape you desire. Put loaves on pan and allow to rise again
covered for about 40 minutes.
Preheat
the oven to 400ยบ so that it is ready to go at the end of the second rising.
When
second rising is done, take a serrated knife and quickly and lightly slash the
loaves.
This
helps the loaves raise more in the oven.
Put loaf
in the oven and cook until a nice browned and reaches an internal temperature
of at least 195 degrees.
Small
Round loaves: 30-40 minutes
1
Large Round Loaf: 1 hour
2 Sandwich
Loafs 40-50 minutes
Take
loaves out of the oven. After a couple minutes, turn loaves over on the cookie
sheets so the bottoms can dry (or else they stay wet on bottom, even after an
hour).
Sun Oven
Directions:
Prepare
dough following the directions above until the second rising.
Preheat
your sun oven to 350 degrees.
When
bread is cooked in the sun oven it rises more than regularly so cut the time of
the second rising down to about 15 minutes, or until the dough has filled the
pan and rounded on the top. Be sure to
use a dark colored pan (or one that is metal and NOT shiny).
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After the second rising ready to put in the sun oven. |
Using a serrated knife slash the top of the
loaf.
Quickly place your bread in the sun oven. Close glass door and secure with the
latch.
For 1
large round loaf bake 1 hour or until the internal temperature of the bread
reaches 195 degrees.