World Bread Day

It is World Bread Day. Go Figure. I was making pizza dough anyhoo as it is Friday night PIZZA NIGHT! With the leftover pizza dough I made a Sea Salt Rosemary loaf. I will take it to Elaine's tomorrow for lunch!
Here is my recipe:


Sea Salt and Rosemary Bread with Wine.

Open bottle of good wine. I recommend a good Pinot Grigio. Pour yourself a glass.
Put two cups room temp water in a bowl.
Add 1 ½ package of active dry yeast (or a palm and a half- I buy yeast in bulk now and never measure ☺ )
Add the yeast to the water to “proof “ it: make sure it is active. Let is sit for about 10 minutes. Once it bubbles add about a tablespoon of salt and sugar. You can add more salt than that if you like. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until bubbly again.

Start to stir in flour by the half cup full. Add flour and stir until you really can’t stir it anymore.
Pour it out onto a clean counter dusted with flour. Coat your hands in olive oil and knead it. Turn it over and over. Treat it little your little bitch.
When it is tough to knead, wash your hands and wash out the bowl you mixed it up in. Pour some olive oil in the bowl and toss the bread around in it until coated. Cover it with a dishtowel and go find some more wine. Let it rise for about an hour.

At this point you can bake it or let it rise again. My husband really prefers bread with a second rise. It just has a more complex “bread” taste. For the second rise, punch the dough down again (Remember , it ‘s your little bitch. It has been very naughty. ) and let it rise again for another hour.

To bake, dust a light colored cookie sheet with corn meal. Take the dough out of the bowl and form into two loaves. Place the loaves onto the cookie sheet. Make little slashes across it with a knife, if you want to. Brush with cold water. Sprinkle with sea salt and place fresh rosemary leaves on top of the loaves. Place a pyrex dish of hot water on the rack under the bread. Pour another glass of wine.
Place into a cold oven on the top rack. Bake for about ½ hour, a little less or a little more, depending on your oven. You are looking for the bread to be a nice golden color all over.

Remove from the oven, place on a cooling rack and remove rosemary. Wait about half an hour to slice and eat. Have a big slice dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar along with any wine left in the bottle. Store leftovers ( if you have any) in plastic grocery bags just tied at the top . This bread is even better the next day! Oh yea and the more wine you drink, the better it tastes! ☺ ☺

To make pizza dough, just add extra sugar at the add sugar and salt stage.

I can't upload images right this second. Why? Dunno. Some kind of 'internal error'. But trust me, the bread looks DELICIOUS!!
I am entering my yummy bread into the World Bread Day Competition just for kicks. Click on the link below for more info!!