Rosemary, Onion, and Sea Salt Artisan Bread

For several years now I have been experimenting in the art of bread baking. My goal here is to recreate the type of bread that is so easily available at bakeries in New Jersey. To capture a flavor, a certain crunchiness, chewiness.. that is so common to find there but not easily available here in Magnolia Texas. Now, let me say, YES, there is good bread in Texas. Somewhere. I suppose. But not here. 

I have found some decent artisan bread at HEB, and also at Randall's, but it was very pricey and inconveniently 20 + miles away! 

So, to begin my journey I read 2 books. Ok, I scanned them. They were:

The Bread Bakers Apprentice, By Peter Reinhart,

And..

Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francios

Great recipes, ideas, and science in these books. The science is important for understanding the changes going on in your dough, and helps in recipe creation.

My first loaves were ok, possibly a little over-mixed.. 

I'm not gonna cry about it! 

I learned from them. 

Since that day 8 or so years ago, I have developed a list of go-to bread and roll recipes that I've been collecting. The favorite for the family is this artisan bread that I will share with you. It's crunchy on the outside with a soft inside. It has large air pockets, and it's chewy and full of flavor.

I began with a simple low-knead recipe for crunchy white bread, and added some rosemary, seasalt and minced onions to develop a deliciously memorable bread that will help any displaced Jerseyite overcome home-sickness! 

Rosemary, Onion and Seasalt Bread

4 cups Bread Flour (AP will do)

1 tsp yeast (fast rise)

1 3/4 tsp table salt

2 cups water

1/4 cup minced fresh rosemary, with a tablespoon set aside

1/3 cup minced onion

2 Tablespoons Sea Salt, coarsely ground

In large bowl mix dry ingredients with a fork. 

Add water and onions and mix loosely, just for half a minute or so. The idea here is to almost moisten everything, but not to over-mix. The air pockets come from letting the dough do the work during this long rise, so trust it will happen and leave it alone!

 

Turn the dough into a bowl greased with olive oil, then turn the dough to coat both sides, Cover the top with plastic wrap, cover the plastic wrap with a tea towel and set it to rise in a warm location for 10 to 12 hours. I usually start dough at night so I can bake in the morning.

After the rise, turn the dough onto a floured surface, then turn the dough into itself for about a minute. It might be pretty sticky at this point, so you can add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour while you turn it.

Form it into a loaf then grind the seasalt over the top. Sprinkle the remaining rosemary over that and gently pat it to make it stick.  cover it for the second rise, about another 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Then, set your Dutch oven inside the center of the oven and heat it to 500 degrees.

***make sure Dutch oven goes in for the heating process as THIS is what makes the bread crunchy***

Once the oven is hot, remove the dish from the oven, carefully remove the lid, flour your hands, grab the loaf and wiggle it a little to loosen from the board, then quickly drop it into the Dutch oven, replace the cover and put it in the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid.

Bake for 10 more minutes.

Remove from oven and immediately turn onto a cooling rack.

Now is the hard part. Let it cool. Yes I'm saying don't touch it for at least a half an hour. 

I've made this bread hundreds of times with different flavor combinations. My kids like when I use a few tablespoons of pizza seasoning from a grinder, unground, in the dough with 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar. After the second rise I grind another tsp over the top and pat it a little to make it stick.

 I hope you will give bread baking a chance, and use my recipe to create favorite flavor combinations for your family!