Cookaholics Bulletin Board

There are bad problems, and there are good problems.
This problem falls in the latter.

I have a ROSEMARY BUSH that I need to manage better; harvest, trim and distribute, whatever.
So I'm thinking Rosemary Bread.
Never done it before --but -- I suspect Ms. Olive Oil will be involved.

Any favorite recipes or links to recommendations are welcome.
I'll try to snap pics if I can remember to do so.

My basil plants are 2 feet tall so I need some help there too.
I've got a bowl of pesto already - thanks anyway.

Have you tried CI's pizza bianca? It is a very wet pizza dough with lots of olive oil topped with salt and rosemary. Big plus, you get to use your stand mixer. Let me know if you want the recipe. I love it and it has always been a big hit here.

Mary

Here is Crescent Dragonwagon's recipe for Rosemary Focaccia (with a tweak or two by yours truly). You could probably make the rosemary tea in step one using fresh rosemary. Too much rosemary is a good problem to have. I generally have the opposite. Also, this recipe works well in a bread machine -- "dough" setting, obviously.


Rosemary Focaccia

1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped fine
1 tablespoon coarse salt

1. Bring the water to a boil and pour it over the dried rosemary in a bowl. Let cool to lukewarm and strain, discarding the rosemary.

2. Pour the rosemary water into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the honey. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and let stand until foamy, 5-10 minutes. Stir in the salt, 1 tablespoon of the oil, and enough of the flour to make a kneadable dough.

3. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, 5-8 minutes. Coat a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, add the dough and turn to to coat all sides. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

4. Coat a 14x12-inch baking pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Punch the dough down and put it in the pan.. Pat, stretch and pull it to cover the bottom. You can let it rest for 10 minutes if it is being recalcitrant, it will then be more cooperative. Dimple the surface all over with your fingertips.


5. Beat together the egg yolk, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1 teaspoon water; brush this mixture over the dough. Sprinkle with the fresh rosemary and a little coarse salt. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes.

6. About 30 minutes into the final rise, preheat oven to 350°F.

7. Bake the bread until golden and crusty, especially at the edges, about 25 minutes. Let cool slightly in the pan, then remove to a wire rack. Serve warm, cut into squares.

I make the Peter Reinhart recipe Lindsay posted on the thread about focaccia. In fact, I started some yesterday, which I'll be baking today. You can top it with rosemary, or whatever you wish. I'm going to try the lemon/parm riff Mary and Ilene love so much.

JB, your recipe sounds interesting. I've never done an egg wash on focaccia. I can only imagine how golden it must be.

Amy

Amy -- It's really, really golden. I've done it with just olive oil, too. Both are good, but the salt sticks better to the egg.

I started a rosemary focaccia this morning.
I used a simple recipe except no egg yoke, - however I really like the idea of hot water to make a rosemary tea first.
This recipe says to refrigerating the dough for a slow rise (it's there chilling now).
Again, being a NOVICE baker, I'm not sure what the benefits are.
I have found that by chilling, an uncooperative dough becomes very compliant, but that's a different story.

Making the dough was a snap, maybe 15 minutes and I'm done.
It means If I goof this one, I can easily try a different one tomorrow.
So I'll proceed and use springs of rosemary and basil since I have an abundance of both.

I tried a focaccia last month. I was okay, but nothing I was proud of.
It seemed dense and a bit tough. Flavor was alright, just not what I was expecting.
Possibly a tad over baked.

I have a wonderful lemon rosemary cake. Doesn't use much rosemary but it's delicious. Let me know if you want the recipe.
fitzie

Fitzie -- I'd like that recipe. Rosemary is my second-favorite herb and it's a close second.

We aren't frosting lovers so I make a lot of one layer plain cakes. This is one we really enjoy.

Lemon Rosemary Cake from Cooking Light
1-1/4 cups AP flour
2/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup chilled butter cut into pieces
3/4 tsp minced rosemary
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 large egg
Cooking spray
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
3/4 teaspoons water
Rosemary sprigs & lemon slices, optional

Preheat oven to 350
Combine flour, sugar and salt.
Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Reserve 1/2 cup flour mixture for topping.
Combine flour mixture, rosemary, baking powder and baking soda.
Add buttermilk, lemon juice and egg and beat unril blended.
Spoon batter into 8" cake pan coated with cooking spray.
Combine reserved flour mixture, lemon rind and water. Stir with a fork
Srinkle over batter
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack.
Garnish with lemon slices & rosemary if desired.

Well, I had better WAY BETTER success with the this focaccia than last time. (Yeah! Progress!)
THIS is the level of awesomeness that I was striving for.
This is something that I would gladly pay ANYTHING to a restaurant or bakery for.
It was a round bread infused with nice rosemary leaves and topped with finely chopped rosemary, some olive oil and end-sprigs of basil with their little blossoms. Only thing that I'd do different was it got a tad thicker than intended, so I'd spread it out more, or break it into two lil' rounds.
It was everything I could do to RESTRAIN MYSELF to just eat half the entire round.
Next time, I shall prepare better by FASTING for two days before making this again.

As promised, some evidence (using my phone):
I admit, it doesn't LOOK all that great, but the flavors and textures were spot-on.








From the book "How To Bake" ISBN 0-06-016819-6 by Nick Malgieri (page 125)
a Very simple recipe;
1. Milk, 1-1/4 cup, warmed to 110 F (book calls for water, but I chose milk because it makes the bread moister and softer)
2. Yeast, dry granulated, Red Star, 2 teaspoons
[micro-wave milk, verify temp, transfer to prewarmed KA mixing bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 2 teaspoons yeast. Whisk for 2 minutes until dissolved]
3. EVOO, young greenish oil, 1/4 cup
[wet-Whisk in with milky-yeast]

In a separate bowl:
4. Flour, A/P, 3-1/4 cups (I weight flour @ 4.75 oz per cup)
5. Salt, Morton, granulated, 2 teaspoons.
6. Fresh rosemary leaves and sprigs, 3 full tablespoons, whole leaves picked for moistness and fragrance.
[dry-Whisk together]

7. Combine dry ingredients to wet in the KA mixing bowl. Stir until roughly combined.
8. Knead on speed 2 with dough hook, about 5 minutes, assisting as necessary.
9. Prep proof bowl by cleaning it first, then spray with oil.
10. Prep floured board, roll-out dough and hand knead until silky smooth, add extra flour if required.
11. Roll dough into tight ball and place in oiled bowl turning over to coat.
12. Cover with oiled plastic wrap. Refrigerate (optional).
13. Let rise until double.
14. Flour board, roll-out and knead dough, add flour if reqd. (Note: can really smell rosemary - neat!)
15. Roll out slightly onto plastic board, cover with oiled plastic wrap.
16. Place in refrigerator to rest for 30 minutes.
17. PREHEAT OVEN TO 475 d F, place rack 2/3 down.
18. Get more rosemary sprigs and fresh basil from back yard, wash, shake dry.
19. Strip rosemary leaves; pick BEST ONES, set aside and fine chop.
20. Get 10 inch cast iron skillet, place on gas burner, med-high to preheat.
21. Get dough from 'fridge, transfer to foiled baking sheet and begin forming (flat round)
22. Using chopped rosemary, sprinkle over dough.
23. Make finger holes in dough, plant basil sprigs all over.
24. Drizzle olive oil - DON'T OVER-DO THIS like last time.
25. Salt, sprinkle over entirety, again don't go overboard.
26. Don GLOVE, get 1 cup of ice cubes, place HOT SKILLET in bottom of oven, dump ice in skillet, close door.
27. Wait 10 seconds and quickly insert baking sheet (watch out for steam to your face!)
28. Set timer for 10 minutes (memo: 475 d F)
29. After 10 minutes, reduce oven temp to 350 F, reset timer to 15 minutes.
30. Remove and let cool for 15 minutes. Enjoy either by itself or with pesto/parm/balsamic paste.

This is, more wordy than it needs to be.