Rosemary Bread Delight Tonight!

We are in the mood for a good home-cooked dinner.  We had to go out-of-town for work for a few days and it was a killer.  It rained and rained, and that  in itself takes it out of a driver (including the co-pilot), and we had two dogs with us.  Stella (our schnauzer) got wet in the grass when we stopped to go potty, and smelled like wet socks after a game of outdoor basketball.  Not fun to travel with.  Pickles had some turkey before we left that apparently did not agree with her, and she passed silent but deadly gas every few minutes like an automatic air un-freshener.  We had to keep rolling down the windows to clear the air.  Fun times.  Add to that, we did not do our usual travel plans and bring along some on-the-road food.  So we were at the mercy of the chain food restaurants.  It is hard to eat healthy on the road.  Once we stopped at a grocery store and tried to get some healthy snacks.  One bag of chips that were supposed to be healthy and organic was $3.00 and felt like it had about 6 chips in it.  We declined.

All that to say we are ready for good ol' home cooking.  Tonight mama hen has a scratchy throat and is still road-weary, so we are doing simple.  Sometimes that is the most delicious. 

We started with a favorite easy bread recipe that we have been making for years.  It is a copycat recipe for a restaurant rosemary bread.  Very simple to make but so tasty.  Along with that, some chicken roasted with herbs, and some roasted veggies.

First the Rosemary! It grows year round here and now we have a few large bushes.

Put the Yeast (1 Table Spoon) 

       Sugar      (1 Table Spoon)

Pour in 1 cup of warm water. Allow to foam.

Then add 1 table spoon of soft butter.

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of salt.

And of course the rosemary, 1 tablespoon chopped.

Mix until the dough is starting to not stick to the bowl.

Next remove from the mixing bowl and place on a lightly floured surface.

The dough will feel soft and slightly sticky. Knead until the dough just starts to lose its stickiness.

(This doesn't take very long)

Next take a bowl and drizzle a small amount of olive oil in the bottom (about 1 to 1 1/2 tsp.)

Take the dough and rub a fine layer of oil over the outer layer of the dough. 

Cover and allow to double in size, about one hour.  Divide in half and shape into two ovals.

Place on a tray that has a small amount of olive oil to keep the bread from sticking.

Cover the two loaves again until they have doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 375.

Brush top with melted butter and sprinkle with rosemary and kosher or coarse sea salt.

Now bake in a 375 degree for about 15 min. (until the top and bottom are golden brown)

After it comes out of the oven brush with butter and let cool just for a few minutes.

Take a bowl and pour in some olive oil, add some rosemary and fresh ground pepper to dip the bread into.

Now enjoy!!!

As for the rest of dinner, this is how it turned out.

In another post we'll tell you how we did the veggies (fennel, red peppers, asparagus and the last of our winter broccoli harvest)

Also the roasted chicken with herbs.  Finally, real food, mmm....

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