Come On Up To The House

Making bread is one of my favorite past times. I really enjoy the smell and warmth it brings to our kitchen. The kids don’t have any clue as to why it is special, since they eat homemade bread everyday. But this is special. This particular bread I made to take to a friends house for dinner. They are serving mushroom lasagna and I was assigned bread as my addition to the meal. So instead of just a regular loaf of bread that I usually make, I decided to garlic up my usual baguette recipe. The results are really wonderful. The boule looks great and and is heavenly tasting. The garlic was just the right addition. The bread was a little on the heavy side, but it was a quick boule. I will have to try another recipe soon and report back on it.

Roasted Garlic Boule

1 tsp yeast
2 cups warm water, divided
4 – 5 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp kosher salt

1 head of garlic, broken apart but unpeeled

Proof the yeast in a seperate bowl with 1/2 cup warmed water and a pinch of sugar. Let sit aside until frothy on top…about 5 minutes. Add 4 cups of flour and salt into a bread mixture or kitchenaid mixture. You can do this by hand as well. Mix in the proofed yeast and additional 1 1/2 cups warmed water and knead together until a soft dough forms. I usually have to add an additional 1/2 cup of flour to get my desired consistancy. Let sit in a oiled, covered bowl for at least an hour to 4 hours. The longer the better.

Roast garlic cloves in the oven, or use this easy cheat I just discovered recently. Saute the unpeeled cloves with a little/tiny bit of olive oil. Be careful not to burn the garlic, as it will be ruined. Gently saute until soft, about 5 minutes. I flipped mine halfway through and covered and turned off the heat for about 10 minutes. Peel garlic and roughly chop.

Preheat oven to 450°F with the dutch oven inside. I use a high sided dutch oven (7inches high).

Pour out dough onto a floured work surface. Flatten dough and place garlic over the top. Gently roll up dough to create a ball. Flatten and do this again to incorporate the garlic through the dough without over working the dough. Create a boule shape and let rest on a floured board. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel.

Let boule rest while oven is coming up to temperature. Once oven is at the temperture. Start the timer to bring the dutch oven up to temperture. 20 minutes before you start baking.

Once 20 minutes are up, grease your hands (I learned this the hard way) and transfer boule gently into the bottom of your hot dutch oven. Replace the cover and put into the oven for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

I think the hardest part is letting the boule rest before you break into it.  Enjoy.

Ingredients
3 1/4 cup bread flour
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
6 large eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 sticks of butter, melted
1 egg for egg wash

Directions

Whisk together bread flour, yeast and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together 6 eggs, 1/2 cup room temperature water and sugar. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Add 2 sticks of melted butter  into the egg mixture and whisk together.

Pour all wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir together to make a wet dough. Let sit for 10 minutes

With your hand…pull dough in around the sides 8 times (all the way around) – do 3 more times every 30 minutes. Then put into the refrigerator for 16 hours to 24 hours.

Take the dough out of the fridge. Flour a board. Cut dough into 4 equal pieces. Pat down into 4 inch disks and shape into a little ball. Don’t apply pressure but create a ball. Let rest for 5 minutes while you prepare 2 loaf pans with cooking spray.

Push dough down again and pull sides in to the center again. Flip and shape into a ball a second time. Fit two rounds into each pan and push down so it rises into the corners. Let rise for another  1 1/2 to 2 hours or once doubled.

Preheat to 350 degrees F.
Brush each loaf with an egg wash and bake. Half way through turn to bake evenly. Bake for 40 minutes or until thermometer reads 190F. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan…then turn out and cool 2 hours on a rack.