Garlic Herb Swirl Bread
Why I Love This Recipe
This bread was absolutely wonderful. My one tiny complaint is that I think that it would taste much better with roasted garlic instead of just minced garlic. When wanting to warm up a piece just place it in the toaster, you get a nice crunchy exterior and a nice warm interior.
Yield: One 9x5-inch loaf
Ingredients You'll Need
Dough Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups bread flour, divided
1 T sugar
1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) active dry or quick-rise yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup very warm water (115-125 degrees F)
2 T butter or margarine, softened or melted
Swirl Ingredients:
4 T butter, softened
1 T garlic, minced
2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Directions
In a large bowl or the bowl of a heavy duty mixer combine 2 cups bread flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Add in water and butter/margarine and mix by hand or on low speed for 1 minute. Add in remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time until the dough is moist but not sticky.
Knead dough for about 10 minutes by hand or with the dough hook on low to medium speed, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn it over to coat with oil. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (75-85F) until doubled in bulk, 40 to 45 minutes.
Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Punch down the dough and place onto lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough into a large rectangular no more than 9" wide. Combine butter, garlic, parsley and oregano and spread evenly over top of dough, leaving 1/2" at end to help seal loaf. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top of butter mixture. Tightly roll dough up into cylinder shape, pinching and tucking ends to form a tight seal and pinching seam to seal. Place seem side down into prepared pan. Oil the surface of the loaf and cover loosely with a clean cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 20 to 45 minutes. (If desired you can top the lof with parmesan cheese)
Preheat the oven to 450. Bake the loaf for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 and bake about 30 minutes more. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Remove the loaf from the pan to a rack and let cool completely before slicing.
Orignal recipe for "Fast White Bread" adapted from The Joy of Cooking. The garlic herb swirl was added by myself.