Wed 1 Jul 2009
Welcome to the very first Salty Spoon contest! Tell me your favorite kind of bread and earn a chance to win an instant-read thermometer, the kind I (incessantly) recommend. The contest will remain open for one week, until midnight Pacific time on Wednesday, July 8. There are two ways to send me your entry, and you may use either or both once a day until the contest is over:
1. Comment on this post
2. Send me (@SaltySpoon) a tweet on Twitter
Good luck – I look forward to hearing about your favorites.
I’ve heard that real estate agents recommend baking a cake or a batch of cookies just before an open house. The hope is that the sweet smell emanating from the oven will beckon to prospective buyers. When we shopped for our place, we saw something like 40 houses in four days, so I can’t tell you with any certainty whether any of them smelled like cookies. There was one place in Marina del Rey that smelled like old soup, and several new condos that offered the seductive chemical high of new carpet fumes, but there are none that sing out in my mind as That Place That Smelled Like A Big Fat Cake.
I would have remembered roasting garlic. My allegiance to baked goods notwithstanding, if I were to select one aroma to illustrate the olfactory concept of Home, it would be the smell of garlic roasting in a hot oven. As it roasts, garlic softens, both in texture and intensity. It abandons the militant aggression it so favors when raw and matures into something warmer, friendlier, with a softer smile. If raw garlic is an outspoken 19-year-old, defiantly braless and passionately committed to a new cause biweekly, then roasted garlic is the 45-year-old that kid grows up to be, who reads edgy historical fiction, drinks more green tea than coffee, and always listens patiently.
When I cook with garlic, I breathe a contented sigh every time I reenter the kitchen. The scent surrounds me, offering a time-worn flannel shirt for the nose. It reaches in and puts me at ease; even the overhead Ikea tracklights seem fuller and more golden. A simple batch of aigo bouido – a garlic soup from Mastering the Art of French Cooking – simmering on the stove sets guests’ faces aglow as they enter for dinner. Graceful billows of garlicky steam tempt them to the table. And a loaf of bread made with a rosemary garlic paste beams as it bakes, filling the whole house with herbed wizardry. Almost enough to sell the place.
Roasted Garlic Rosemary Bread
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman
Ingredients
1 head of garlic
3T fresh rosemary
20 oz. flour - see note (a little over 4 cups)
8 oz. warm water
2t table salt
1t active dry yeast
4T butter, melted
1T olive oil, plus more for the pan
Kosher salt for sprinkling
Equipment
Large bowl
6-qt Dutch oven with a lid or a sturdy, rimmed dish (like a ceramic pie plate)
Rundown
- Trim the garlic and drizzle with oil
- Roast
- Make the garlic-rosemary paste
- Mix everything
- Knead
- Raise
- Shape
- Bake
At least an hour before you begin making the rest of the dough, preheat the oven to 400. Chop the top off the head of garlic and lay it cut-side up on a large square of foil. Drizzle with the olive oil. Fold the sides of the foil up and around the garlic to make a packet. Roast for 40 minutes. When it’s done, pull the packet out of the oven and open (carefully!) with kitchen tongs so that it can begin cooling. When you can handle it, start snipping away at the skin and popping the roasted cloves free. Seriously, be careful not to burn your fingers. It sucks.
Collect the roasted garlic cloves and chop together with the rosemary until you have a coarse paste. Mix the paste into the melted butter and set aside for a moment.
Sprinkle the yeast into the water and let it rest for 5 minutes – when it’s ready, it will begin to form a foamy cloud.
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. If you have a stand mixer, fit it with the dough hook and let it go for 10 minutes. If you are mixing by hand, stir with a spoon until everything is fully combined, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead until it is smooth and elastic. It’s ready when you can pass the windowpane test - tear off a small ball of dough and give it a little stretch in a few opposing directions. If you can make it translucent without tearing it, it’s ready.
Return the dough to an oiled bowl and cover with a clean dishtowel. Allow it to rise at room temperature until doubled, approximately 90 minutes. Once doubled, preheat the oven to 450 and knead the dough gently a few times. Shape it into a ball and set aside.
Generously grease a 6-qt Dutch oven with olive oil and place the ball inside. If you are using a pie plate or something similar, just spread a few tablespoons of oil around the bottom and place the ball in the center. Score the top of the dough a few times - I have done it with an X as well as a six-pointed star. As it bakes, it will open and bloom to make a wonderful design.
Drizzle another few tablespoons of olive oil over the top of the ball and sprinkle with kosher salt. If you use the Dutch oven, bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, then another 15-30 with the lid off until it is gently golden. Once you’ve uncovered the pot, check in at 15 minutes - don’t let it get too brown. If you use the pie plate, bake for 45 minutes or until it gets that golden glow. When finished, the internal temperature should read around 200 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.
Carefully remove the loaf from the pot (remember that the sides will be very hot - I usually get ‘er done with the help of kitchen tongs, a sturdy spatula, and prayer). Cool for 10 minutes before diving in.
Flour note - the original recipe calls for bread flour. I often find myself with more AP flour on hand than bread flour. It works just fine with AP, though the extra gluten in the bread flour adds more loft. Use either, but know that they will result in two different textures. The AP version is sturdy enough to serve as a stunt double for sandwich bread when you, ahem, find yourself without any.
Hello mates, how is all, and what you wish for to say regarding this post, in my view its in fact amazing designed for me.
Keep this going please, great job!
Outstanding quest there. What happened after? Take care!
What’s up i am kavin, its my first occasion to commenting anywhere, when i read this article i thought i could also create comment due to this brilliant piece of writing.
Keep on working, great job!
Wonderful article! This is the type of information that should be shared across the web. Disgrace on Google for now not positioning this post higher! Come on over and visit my site . Thank you =)
Hey there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thanks, However I am encountering issues with your RSS. I don’t understand the reason why I can’t join it. Is there anybody else having the same RSS issues? Anyone who knows the answer can you kindly respond? Thanks!!
I have been exploring for a little for any high-quality articles or weblog posts on this sort of house . Exploring in Yahoo I finally stumbled upon this site. Studying this information So i’m glad to express that I’ve an incredibly just right uncanny feeling I discovered just what I needed. I so much without a doubt will make certain to do not put out of your mind this website and provides it a look on a continuing basis.
I have read a few good stuff here. Definitely price bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how a lot attempt you set to create this sort of excellent informative site.
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. I’ll bookmark your blog and check again here regularly. I’m quite certain I will learn many new stuff right here! Best of luck for the next!
This paragraph provides clear idea designed for the new visitors of blogging, that in fact how to do blogging.
Good post. I absolutely appreciate this site. Stick with it!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I truly appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for your further write ups thanks once again.
Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve visited your blog before but after looking at many of the posts I realized it’s new to me. Anyhow, I’m certainly delighted I discovered it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back regularly!
My brother suggested I might like this web site. He was entirely right. This post actually made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
Thanks to my father who told me regarding this website, this website is truly remarkable.
Generally I do not read article on blogs, however I would like to say that this write-up very pressured me to try and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, very nice article.
Hello, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, very good blog!
Hi there to every body, it’s my first pay a visit of this blog; this blog contains remarkable and really good information for visitors.
I鈥檓 not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back down the road. Cheers
I’ve learn a few just right stuff here. Definitely value bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how so much attempt you put to create this sort of great informative web site.
I am sure this post has touched all the internet visitors, its really really pleasant post on building up new web site.
Pretty great post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to mention that I’ve truly loved browsing your weblog posts. After all I will be subscribing in your rss feed and I am hoping you write again very soon!
What’s up it’s me, I am also visiting this web page daily, this web page is in fact good and the users are really sharing good thoughts.
Great post. I was checking constantly this blog and I am impressed! Extremely helpful information particularly the last part
I care for such info a lot. I was looking for this certain information for a long time. Thank you and good luck.|
After I initially left a comment I appear to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now every time a comment is added I get 4 emails with the exact same comment. Perhaps there is a way you can remove me from that service? Cheers!