Rosemary tomato bread

10 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 cup Water, warm (bottled better than faucet)
3¾ teaspoon Yeast, dry
4 tablespoons Rosemary, chopped (dry won't work)
1 teaspoon Cracked Black Pepper
900 eaches Grms Flour, unbleached white (6 3/4 cups)
1 cup Tomato juice, room temp. I use the leftover
\"juices\" from cans of whole peeled tomatoes
1 tablespoon Salt PLUS 1 tsp
⅓ cup Olive oil LESS 1 TBS

Directions

Recipe calls for Kitchenaid or other large mixer and a bread stone.

TIMES ARE QUITE ACCURATE

Sprinkle yeast into warmed water. Stir until creamy and let rest about 10 minutes while you chop up the fresh rosemary. Stir in the tomato juice, olive oil, rosemary and pepper. Add the flour and salt one cup at a time and mix well with paddle. Towards the end the flour will seem to be too much and it will stop mixing. Don't fret. And DON'T add more water.

LET DOUGH REST FOR 10 MINUTES to allow for maximum absorbtion. After the resting, mix about a minute more with the paddle. Flour will still be dry at bottom. Change to dough hook. Mix at medium speed for 4 minutes. You will see the flour was sufficient and the bowl will be clean.

Place dough on unfloured counter and knead a bit. It might be just a tad tacky.

Coat a large bowl with butter or margarine (oil causes dough to stick) cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise for 1½ hours. Dough should double.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and flour really well -- important -- pour on the flour. Flatten dough out on the counter to a giant rectangle. Roll it up tightly like a jelly roll. Flatten again and roll again. Form dough into a tight ball with a really tight skin over the top. The more interesting the bottom will be (not a perfect ball) the more exciting the final product will be. Place on parchment paper and cover with a bath towel (a bit damp is best).

Turn on oven to 450.

Let dough rise about 45 minutes -- until not quite doubled in size.

Err on too little rise than too much for a better texture and oven spring.

When ready to bake. Open oven and pull out rack with your baking stone. Carefully lift a side of the parchment paper and roll the dough over on to the stone. (No cornmeal) Rapidly grab your spray bottle and give the oven several good spritzes.

Bake for 10 minutes. Then give another spritz and turn oven down to 400. Bake an additional 35 minutes. Turn the bread around a couple of times during the cooking. I no longer trust the bottom thump method so I plunge in an instant-reading thermometer and if it reads 200 the bread is done.

TURN OFF OVEN AND LEAVE BREAD IN FOR 10 MINUTES for an optimum crispy crust. (The open door while you thermometer test cools the oven sufficiently so cooking stops but keep door closed for these 10 minutes).

Cool thoroughly on a rack over a big bowl for maximum air circulation.

Uploaded by Richard (71570,1056).

Source: Richard Piro, CompuServe.

Calories per serving: Number of Servings: 10 Fat grams per serving: Approx. Cook Time: Cholesterol per serving: Marks: Submitted By GABI SHAHAR On 11-15-95

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