Italian-spiced garlic bread that goes perfectly with a warm bowl of soup or just a smear of butter!
Yield: 1 loaf of bread
Ingredients
1 cup warm water
2¼ tsp active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
4 oz butter, melted
¾ tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp tuscan or Italian seasoning blend
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
4 cups bread flour
a few pinches coarsely ground black pepper
2 tsp salt
Instructions
In a small bowl, whisk together the water, yeast, and sugar. Allow to rest until mixture begins to become foamy. If yeast never foams, then it has gone bad - get new yeast.
Stir together the (hot) melted butter with the red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, and garlic. Set aside.
Put the flour in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a bread hook. Stir in the salt and pepper. Pour in the yeast and butter mixtures. Stir on low speed (with the dough hook) for 10-12 minutes. The dough should not stick to the sides of the bowl, and it should be smooth and easy to work with.
Place the dough in a large greased bowl. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rest and rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Heat oven to 450.
Knead the dough for about 2 minutes.
Grease a large Dutch oven. Form the dough into a ball and place in the Dutch oven. Cut two slits in the top of it with a scissor. Drizzle with a bit more olive oil. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and cook for 30 minutes. Reduce oven to 400. Remove the lid and cook for about 15-20 minutes more.
Remove from oven and allow to cool enough to remove it from the pan.