you can call me Martha Stuart

I am going to my boss' house tomorrow night for a dinner with the coworkers, and we were each asked to bring something along. I decided this was a perfect excuse for round deux of bread making 101...obvs. Round one did not go so well, something Ike and his family can attest to unfortunately. well this time, as it were, I believe that I might've mastered this baked enigma. actually, homemade bread recipes seem very simple. maybe I just suck at baking...something I've suspected  for awhile now. anyhoo, I give you my homemade rosemary olive oil bread + the recipe for all you bakers out there.

What you'll need

* 1 cup warm water (between 100 and 110 degrees)

* 1 package yeast 

* 1 cup fresh rosemary

* 1 tablespoon olive oil

* 1 tablespoon salt

* 1 tablespoon sugar

* 2 cups flour

* butter/shortening for greasing bowl

Start by mixing together the flour, salt, and rosemary in a bowl. In another bowl put the warm water (2 cups) and sprinkle yeast and sugar on top. Mix together and it should become a milky color. Let sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the yeast mixture should have doubled in size-this means the yeast has been activated*. Pour the yeast and water into the flour mixture. Add the olive oil. Cover the bowl with a hand towel and let sit for 30 minutes. After thirty minutes put bread on a floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, wash out your mixing bowl and then butter and flour it to keep bread from sticking. Allow dough to rise in the bowl (again covered with a towel) for an hour. The bread should triple in size during this time. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Take bread out of the bowl and put onto a baking sheet that has been either greased or covered with cornmeal (again to keep from sticking). Put bread in oven for 1 hour. To check whether the bread is done take it out of the oven, flip it over and tap it hard with your thumb. It should sound hollow. You can also use a meat thermometer to measure the internal temperature, which should be right around 200 degrees. 

As a side note...I also made this gem. It didn't look like it rose the way a cake is supposed to, but it was damn good. You can find the recipe for this Reine de Saba avec Glaçage au Chocolat (aka chocolate almond cake with chocolate butter icing) in Julia Child's book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking".

* The warm water is crucial. Use cold or room temperature water and you'll end up like me...wasting 3 packages of yeast trying to figure out what went wrong.