Rosemary Peasant Bread

I absolutely love Macaroni Grill's peasant bread that they serve at the table when you sit down. It's all crusty, warm, and coated with coarse salt on the top. I love to dip it in the oil. It's such a simple idea to dip bread in oil, but it's so delicious. I decided to try my hand at making the bread at home so I poked around online until I found a recipe I was satisfied with. Of course, I'm sure I could have come up with something on my own or adapt a recipe but this was just easier at the time.



I also had some rosemary in the refrigerator that was starting to turn so it needed to be used, and fast. Luckily I had about 2 tablespoons worth and that's what I needed! It worked out quite well actually. So, since this bread is brushed with butter it has an awesome crispy crust right out of the oven. The only problem is after being out of the oven an hour or two the crust softened, but the bread was still delicious. You should plan to have the recipe come out of the oven pretty close to when you want to eat it though so you get the full crusty effect (if that's what you're going for).

MACARONI GRILL BREAD
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. dry yeast
1 tbsp. sugar
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)
2 - 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary, divided use
1 tbsp. canola oil or olive oil
nonstick cooking spray
1 tbsp. butter, melted

Directions:
1. Place yeast, sugar, and warm water in large bowl or food processor and allow mixture to become bubbly.
2. Mix in 2 cups of flour and the salt. Add one tablespoon of the fresh chopped rosemary. Knead for about 10 minutes by hand or in food processor about 30 seconds until smooth and elastic. Add more flour if necessary.
3. Oil a bowl, put dough in it and cover with a towel. Let dough rise in a warm place for one hour until doubled.
4. Punch down dough and divide in half. Let dough rest about 5-10 minutes.
5. Spray baking pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray. Shape the dough into 2 small rounded oval loaves.
6. Melt butter. Brush over the top of the loaves. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon of rosemary over the loaves and press lightly into the surface. Let loaves rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
8. Lightly sprinkle coarse salt over the loaves. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned.
*One loaf can be baked then frozen, if desired. Pull out of freezer a few hours before it is needed then put in 350F oven for about 5 minutes or until heated through.

Printed from Searching For Dessert

Printable recipe


Adapted from The Recipe Link