Rosemary Garlic No Knead Bread

*This one requires a dutch oven or other covered bake-able pot, but not much else*

This is a version of the NYT No Knead Bread, but with some variations.

INGREDIENTS
3 cups all-purpose flour (or wheat flour, or bread flour + more for dusting)
¼ teaspoon active dry yeast (or instant yeast)
1 tsp of salt
Fresh or dried rosemary
3 cloves of garlic (or minced garlic)
1 tbsp olive oil (or any other oil you like!)

INSTRUCTIONS
This starts out just like the NYT recipe, then gets a bit different later on...

Step 1
In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and your desired amount of rosemary (I like the equivalent of leaves off 2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, or about 1-1.5 teaspoon of dried rosemary). Stir with your fingers until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap (or a towel, or a loose lid).
(5 mins of prep)

Proof 1
Let dough rest between 12 - 16 hours (I tend to make my bread dough in the evening before, and do the second proof in the morning. I like to keep my dough in the oven if I don't need to use it during this time (obviously not an active oven) to keep the temperature it rests at consistent).
(12-16 hours of rest)

Proof 2
When your dough is ready, it will be quite bubbly.

Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper (or a cutting board) and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour, more rosemary (if desired) and two cloves of finely minced fresh garlic (or about two teaspoons of garlic from a jar). Fold it over on itself six to eight times to form a ball. Cover loosely with a tea towel and let rest about 1.5 - 2 more hours.

Dough should be nearly double in size and the dough won't "bounce back" when you push a finger into it (if you poke it, you'll still see your finger imprint after you take your finger out).

(5 mins of prep, 1.5-2 hours of rest)

Baking
20-30 minutes before your bread is ready (or more if you need more time for your dough to proof), heat your oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit and place your a 5+ quart covered pot (dutch oven, cast iron, pyrex, etc) in to pre-heat.

After your pot has pre-heated, uncover the bread. Brush gently (I use my hands) some olive oil to the top, add some more garlic (I prefer a teaspoon of jar garlic at this step, but you could use a clove or two of minced fresh garlic) and rosemary to the outside.

Pull the parchment paper and drop directly into the pre-heated dutch oven and cover. Bake for 30-35ish minutes covered (I usually do 35) and 20-25 minutes uncovered until the outside is a golden brown.

(10-20ish minutes of prep, 50-70 minutes of bake time)

NOTES:

  • You can totally save time by not pre-heating your dutch oven, I've done it without before and it comes out just fine.
  • It's also really absolutely lovely to do the last proof fully wrapped in a flour-covered tea-towel.. I just don't love washing it after that, but the texture is amazing that way.
  • If you don't have parchment paper, you can ensure you dough doesn't stick another way-- some suggestions have been flour, cornmeal, etc)
  • You don't have to use rosemary & garlic- you can use thyme, basil, fennel, sage.. let me know what you use in the comments below!

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