Italian Herb Bread Recipe
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Italian Herb Bread
As you can see in my last post of delicious Roll-up Eggplant Lasagna, I served the lasagna with fresh homemade herb Italian bread and promised to share the recipe with you as the bread turned out so awesome! My husband's reaction after taking first bite of bread was " Wow....this is just like we get in restaurants, its delicious" :)
I am sure every wife is on the seventh cloud if her husband praises her cooking. I too was :) We both started eating bread while I was taking pictures of both the dishes (bread & lasagna)...Couldn't wait for the table to be set and eat decently like humans (not that we are not ! :P)
I had put as many herbs I could lay my hands on! Nothing beats the aroma and taste of fresh home-baked bread.I had used dried herbs but you can use fresh herbs and I bet its gonna taste even better. So people out there, heat up your oven, turn on your bread machines and bake this delicious bread.
Ingredients:
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water (105-115 degree F)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3-3 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 2 tsp italian seasoning
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- I told ya, I had put all the herbs I could lay my hands on :)
Method:
1. Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 tbsp of sugar and keep aside for 10 minutes. If yeast is good, it will become frothy and increase in volume.
2. In the mixer of your electric mixer add 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2 cups flour, 1 tbsp of sugar, garlic salt and all the herbs. With the dough hook, turn to speed 2 and mix until well blended. You can mix all these ingredients by a spatula if you plan to knead by hand.
3. Add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time and continue on speed 2 (or knead by hands) until dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl and gets smooth and elastic. With hands, it will take about 10-15 minutes.
4. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until double in bulk.
5. Punch down down and divide in to 6 equal portions. Roll out each on of them in a rectangle, brush with olive oil and shape into a loaf.
6. Put all the 6 loafs in greased baking tray and let them sit until doubled in size (approx 30-40 min). Brush with olive oil and bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 15-18 minutes.
Are you smelling the bread already? Take it out of the oven and let it cool down for about 10 minutes. Serve Warm.......Isn't it tasty? :)