A crunchy crust with a soft middle packed with flavor! This bread is a new staple in my house. An easy recipe with simple ingredients that will be gone before you know it.
Ingredients
3 to 4 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbs brown sugar
2 1/2 tsps active dry yeast (or one packet)
1 1/2 cups warm water
5 cloves fresh or roasted garlic, roughly chopped
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
cooking spray
Cooking Tools
A Dutch oven (I use a 6 quart)
Parchment Paper
Directions
Roughly chop rosemary and garlic and set aside. To roast garlic, cut a whole head of garlic in half and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast in oven for 30-40 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Roughly chop garlic and set aside.
Stir yeast in warm water until dissolved. Then combine flour, salt, sugar, rosemary, and garlic together in a large bowl. Add in your yeast and water mixture and stir until a loose dough ball is beginning to form.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured counter surface. It will be sticky at first! Add flour a little at a time (around 2 tablespoons) until the dough is just barely sticking to your fingers. You most likely have to add flour several times.
Knead the dough for roughly 10 minutes. Do this by pushing the dough away from you, folding the sides in, then pulling it towards yourself. You'll know the dough has been sufficiently kneaded when you poke it with your finger and it bounces back!
Form the dough into a ball and spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place your dough ball into the bowl, flipping it once so both sides get a coating of oil.
Cover the bowl with a cloth (I use a kitchen towel) and let rest for 1.5 - 2 hours in a warm place. I usually set a chair in front of my window in the sunlight.
After the dough has doubled in size, softly punch in down onto a lightly floured surface. Reshape it into a ball and onto a piece of parchment paper. Let rest for 20 minutes. Feel free to score with a knife down the middle for extra crispy edges!
Place your dutch oven inside your oven. Then, turn the oven on to 450 degrees. It's important to let your dutch oven come to temperature with your oven so it doesn't get heat shock and crack!
Using oven-mitts, carefully remove your dutch oven from the oven and place it on a stove or other heat-tolerant surface. Pick up the parchment paper with the dough ball and place inside your dutch oven, then cover with the lid and return to the oven.
Bake with the lid on for 30 minutes at 450 degrees. After 30 minutes, carefully remove the lid from your dutch oven and let cook uncovered for 8-10 minutes.
Remove the dutch oven from your oven and place onto a heat-tolerant surface. remove the parchment paper, lifting out the loaf. Cool on a wire rack for 40 minutes before slicing.
Enjoy!!
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