Shortcut Wheat Bread With Rosemary

Here is a recipe for wheat bread that is a bit of a cheat - the dough is made in the bread machine, but then you take it out, work it a bit, and bake it in the oven. I love my bread machine for pizza dough, but anytime I've ever tried to make bread in it, it has come out small, hard, and disappointing. This bread, it was an experiment and I'm pretty happy with how the experiment turned out. It makes some very tasty toast, too. I love toast.

Shortcut Wheat Bread With Rosemary

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/3 cups warm water

1 package yeast

2 TB olive oil

2 tsp coarse salt

1 tsp fresh Rosemary, chopped

Preheat oven to 425 F

Add the ingredients into your machine in the order the manufacturer suggests. Mine goes like this - water, oil, salt, rosemary, flours, then make a little well in the top and add the yeast into the well. Set the machine to the "dough" setting, which runs for 9o minutes.

At the end of 90 minutes, pull the dough out and place it on a floured surface. Sprinkle additional flour on top and work it into the dough. You want a smooth, non-sticky dough.

Shape into a loaf and place on either an oiled cookie sheet or use some parchment paper (I prefer the parchment). Let rise until it's about doubled in size. Slash the top of the loaf 3 or 4 times, about a 1/2 inch deep.

Sprinkle the top of the loaf with water, then place in the oven. During the first 9 minutes, periodically open the oven door and mist or sprinkle more water on top of the bread dough.

At the end of 9 minutes, sprinkle with a light dusting of flour, reduce heat to 375F, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. At the end of the 10 minutes, tent with foil and then bake for 10 more minutes.

Bread is done when you can knock on it and hear a "hollow" sound. Place on a rack to cool. Cover, after cooling, to keep fresh.

Some notes.........

Sprinkling the dough with water, in the beginning, gives it a nice crust.

You may have noticed that in the picture my bread does not have the knife marks. Oops, please pretend that you did not notice that part. I forgot to do that step. ;D

Make sure that your bread is fully cooled before covering, you don't want a soggy bottom crust.