Monday, July 27, 2009

ROSEMARY BREAD

As I was digging in the freezer the other day, to no avail, in order find a package of hamburger buns to go with supper that night, I had a “eureka” moment. Why not make my own hamburger buns using what has quickly become a family favourite bread recipe… Rosemary Bread. I had been using this recipe quite often to make loaves of crusty bread or pans of savoury dinner rolls and each time they have been a hit. As hamburger buns, they were a winner as well, although the next time I make them, and there definitely will be a next time, I will use a small bowl to cut the shape of the rolls. I had used a large beer glass to cut them out which meant the baked buns were a little on the small size. At least there were no complaints “Where’s the beef?”

This is a recipe for a bread machine but there is no reason why you couldn’t make them without a machine using a little elbow grease, just follow the basic bread making techniques. If you’ve never made bread before, you can find bread making methods in just about any cookbook.

I have been using my machine lately to mix the dough and then taking the dough from the pan to rise the traditional way and baking it in the oven. I find it makes better bread that way and I don’t feel so guilty for cheating by using a bread machine.



Rosemary Bread
Add to the bread machine pan in the order listed:
1 ½ c. warm water
4 Tbl. Olive oil
1 ½ tsp. Sea salt
4 c. white flour
3 tsp. Dried rosemary
2 ¼ tsp dried yeast

Set on dough cycle if you want to shape your own bread and bake it in the oven, or set your machine on White Bread, large loaf and Medium or dark crust and let it bake in the machine.

To bake in your oven, remove dough from machine when the dough cycle in finished and place in a large bowl that has been greased with olive oil. Rub it around bowl to coat dough with oil. Cover with a warm damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until dough doubles in volume, about two hours.


***If you don’t have a machine, mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix together the water and olive oil and then add to the dry ingredients. Mix well with your hands then sprinkle a little flour along the edges of your bowl while kneading the dough. Continue to add flour while kneading until dough is no longer sticky. Knead about 10 min., form dough into a ball. Add a little olive oil to the bowl and spread to coat sides. Place dough in bowl and rub it around bowl to coat dough with oil. Cover with a warm damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until dough doubles in volume, about two hours.

After the dough has risen until double in volume you can shape it into one large loaf or divide it in half to make two small loaves…or cut off small pieces of dough to shape into dinner rolls and place into pans.…or roll it out into pizza pans to make a delicious herbed pizza crust.

To make hamburger buns, I rolled the dough out to ½ inch thickness and cut rounds with a large glass, but a small bowl would make larger buns.

***After shaping your bread, cover with a warm damp cloth and let rise again until double in volume Bake in a 400 degree oven for:

Dinner rolls - 30 - 35 min.
Hamburger buns - 30 - 35 min.
2 Small Loaves - 40 - 45 min.
1 Large loaf - 45 - 55 min.

For pizza, add toppings and bake at 500 degrees for approximately 10 min.

Enjoy!

6 comments:

  1. I've been waiting for this recipe! But it will have to wait until next bread day; already got some rye bread on the go this morning.

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  2. This sounds divine, but the few times I have tried to make bread, were disasters...! Not sure if I´ll try it again, but you sure made me want to! :)

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  3. that sounds soooo good! nothing better than homemade bread!

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  4. Marisa:
    In your opinion, does this recipe turn out the same if you don't have bread machine as when you do? I'd like to try it, but thought I'd check with you before hand. Thanks!

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  5. I recently took a yeast bread making class and I'm so glad I did! It took a lot of the mystery out of it! Since then, i've cranked out a few loaves and were oh so good. I'll try this recipe next! Thanks.

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