Roasted Garlic Bread

This bread was my first experiment with yeast breads in the toaster oven, the results were delicious. I mean, put together freshly made french bread and roasted garlic... what could possibly go wrong?

Most people, I think, are a little afraid of making bread. They think that it's complicated and takes forever. Well, it's actually pretty simple, but it does take a few hours, though you're pretty inactive during most of it. Also, nothing smells as good as yeast bread when it's rising and baking.

So, we start off with a very small number of ingredients.

Just flour, olive oil, garlic, dry active yeast, and water. You'll need two bowls, one big and one small, and some aluminum foil.

First thing we need to do is roast the garlic. So, take three cloves from the head, chop off their tops, and put them on your sheet of aluminum foil.

 

Pour about 2 teaspoon to a tablespoon of oil over the cloves and I added just a little salt. Fold up the foil in to a nice packet, just like I did. Put it in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, we need to activate the yeast. Take 3/4 of a cup of "tepid" water, which means just warm to the touch and put in your small bowl, then add in about half of the package of yeast and stir it up.

 

Half of a package is about 1 1/4 teaspoons. Now, add in a pinch of flour to feed those yeast and let it sit out for a while. I mean, you're hungry when you wake up, so are the yeast.

The reason it is REALLY important to use tepid water is that yeast are most active at just above body temperature, they evolved that way. So, if the water feels warm to the touch (but not hot), then it's probably good. Too hot and you'll kill the yeast, too cold and they won't all activate. Plus, we're prepping the yeast so that they multiply and make the bread rise so be nice to the little guys.

To make sure that I do the water right I put in the water in three stages, changing from cool to warm, then warm to warmer... but not quite hot. I'm also just neurotic about the temperature at this stae.

So, put the yeast aside for the half hour until the garlic is done. Easy enough.

When the garlic is done, take it out and let it cool.

 

You're going to be handling and mashing it in a little bit.

We get together our dry team. First comes flour and salt.

Then add in about a tablespoon of olive oil, for good measure.

 

Mix it around really nicely, and then make a big crater in the center of the bowl, like so.

Now the fun part, pour in the yeast/water combo. Right before I pour, I just give it a little stir.

Stir it up, with a wooden spoon or your hands, then mash in the garlic, using your fingers to squeeze the clove out, then crushing it between your thumb and forefinger. I also pour in the extra oil in the foil. When you're done, it will be a big sticky mess, that means it's time to knead. I think everyone is afraid of kneading, but I think it's tons of fun (for the first two minutes or so)

First thing's first. Sprinkle flour all over a wooden board, or whatever surface you'll be kneading on. Then, turn the dough out of bowl onto the surface. Flour your hands, the top of the dough, everything in sight. This dough could be really sticky. Also, keep a knife nearby, just in case.

 

To knead, place the butt of your hand in the middle of the dough ball and push away from you. Do it gently, you don't want to rip the ball, just work it a little bit. 

After the push, fold the ball over on itself and repeat the process.

Working the dough like this produces a net of gluten in the bread, and also mixes in more flour. Basically, every time you push out and fold over, sprinkle the top of the ball with flour again, to stop it from sticking to you, and to add more to the mix. Also, the more gluten in your bread, the more structure. Too much and the bread will be tough though. So, you want to knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until it makes a nice elastic ball, like this.

 

The outside of the bread is smooth and the ball is holding together, but it has small imperfections that suggest that it hasn't been overworked. I'm patting myself on the back for this one.

 

Oh, I forgot about the knife. If the dough sticks to your board, use you knife to scrape it up, that's really all it's for.

I wash out my mixing bowl at this point, oil it and put the dough back in. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and let it sit in the warmest part of your kitchen for an hour. I put it on top of the toaster over where I just roasted the garlic, that's pretty warm. The dough should about double in size in this time and look like this.

Now everyone's favorite part. Turn the risen dough out on to your board and punch it down.

 

You're basically knocking some of the air out so that you can form a loaf. If you're cooking miniloaves, cut the flattened dough in half.

Now, using the butt of your hand, push the dough in to a rough rectangle.

Then, fold in the long sides of the rectangle and pinch off the seam.

 

Fold under the excess on sides and then slide that baby right in to a greased loaf pan. This will give the top of the loaf that nice shape we all expect from our bread and make sure that it takes up the whole loaf pan. You could also try braiding the dough, but I've never done that, and I wasn't about to try this time around.

Put your loaf pans back under a dish towel in the warmest part of your kitchen again and let them rise for another hour. The bread will rise again!

 

Great! These loaves look like they've risen a whole lot. Let's bake them in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes now, until the tops are browned. It will smell delicious, you just have to control yourself though.

When they come out, flip the loaf pan upside down to get the bread out, then let it cool (just for a minute) before eating. Warm bread is really the best though, so don't let it go for too long.

Look at them, just beautiful. Delicious with a meal that involves some marinara sauce. I want more of this bread NOW! Too bad I have to work and go to class and stuff. If I don't succeed as a Mathematician, baker may have to be my career path. I'd get so fat though...

Roasted Garlic Bread

3 cloves garlic

2 cups flour, plus more for kneading

3/4 cup tepid water

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/4 tsp dry active yeast

1. Roast the garlic by wrapping up the cloves of garlic, with tops cut off, in aluminum foil with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt. Put it in a 400 degree oven for 30 miuntes.

2. Prep the yeast by combining the dry active yeast with the tepid water an a pinch of flour. Stir until the yeast dissolves.

3. When the garlic is done, combine the flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tbsp oil in a large mixing bowl, creating a crater in the center.

4. Add in the yeast mixture and stir, using a wooden spoon. When the ingredients are just combined, mash the roasted garlic and mix in.

5. Knead the dough for 5 - 8 minutes, adding flour as needed.

6. Let rise for an hour in a warm place, then punch the dough down and form in to loaves

7. Let the dough rise in the loaf pans for another hour, then place in a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes.

Enjoy!