Bread: Rosemary Peasant Bread

I am a lover of all things doughy! As proof I have a separate board on my Pintrest for bread and bread alone.  Other foods get mashed together All Desserts on one board, and everything else combined under a board i call Devour.  Sure I could start breaking the breads down and getting more complicated in my orginazation system, but it's Pintrest and I don't wanna.  So deal!  

To help you deal, I'm sharing the results of my twist on a traditional Peasant bread.

Rosemary Peasant Bread.

All my life, growing up in Riverside on a reasonably large piece of land, there were there rosemary bushes that were popping up.  As a child they were the bane of my existence. Run through them playing cowboys? Smell like a sharp and bitter plant for days!  Give the dog a hug?  Fragrent punch to the nose!  It was terrible.  

When I learned that my mother was purposefully planting the smelly weed I was shocked.  There's a reason to have that bush around?  Fresh herbs?  Who cares, they're gross!  And the dogs smell like plants, which was coincidentally the reason she would throw back at me. The dogs smell like plants!

  

It's only been recently that I've understood the fully joy of rosemary.  I still find the smell some what overpowering when it's super fresh or if I rub up against it accidentally.   However when added to baked dishes and breads, I have a new respect for this pine-esk green and it's tiny purple flowers.  It added a great amount of character to the Peasant bread of yore. 

 

And just look at that picture!  It's an airy delight with a crust that crisps up nicely when toasted and is soft enough to add delight to your day. 

It is a yeast bread so be ready!  However, this magical bread requires NO KNEADING.  Just a couple of rise times and some punching/folding, then you're all good for the baking.

 

I found the recipie via Pintrest on a blog called Alexandra's Kitchen.  Fantastic post!  It's filled with detailed instructions for this surprisingly simple bread and even includes a whole bunch of useful tips regarding how long to rise, add ins, tricks for rising and so on.  

The rosemary alternative was something that I came up with myself.

 

The inspiration for this addition was my visit home.  After each visit I make off like a bandit with food stuffs.  Fruit from the garden, leftover home cooking, some times candy if I'm lucky.  This trip included a few cuttings of rosemary.  I let them sit in some water for a few days.  The green covered stems and little purple flowers just looked so nice next to the sink!  

Finally the day came!  I cut off some stems and pulled the leaves off by hand creating a large pile.  Then in came Mr. Knife and we made short work of the herb.  

The grand total after chopping carnage was 5 teaspoons of rosemary. I'd say 3 tsp were chopped finely (to add flavor but not some much green stuff in the teeth) and 2 tsp were more crushed (to add visual confirmation of the herb which was smelling up the bread... in a good way).  It just looks more rustic with some larger chunks sitting around.

Add the rosemary to the dry ingredients, mix appropriately so there's some green spread evenly, and follow the rest of the directions as laid out by Ms. Alexandra!