Italienisches Brot

Lately, I've been making that chocolate chip cookie recipe like it was a second job. There were a couple of days where classes were cancelled because there was much snowfall. I never, ever though I would live to see a day, or even two consecutive days, when IUPUI shut down the campus. Truly amazing. However, that is not the subject for today.

After a disappointing experiment with rolls made of whole wheat flour that we shall never speak of again, I discovered a recipe on the back of a dried yeast package. It was called "Italian Bread", and was made with whole wheat flour. I was homeward bound that day due to the weather, so I decided to give it a go despite my despair over the failed rolls. That was the best decision I made that entire week. This stuff is fabulous! It rose phenomenally (think of "The Blob"), tasted wonderful, and made excellent toast. I prefer dipping chunks of it into olive oil with cracked black pepper, but I could live on that combination for the rest of my life. I know others have different tastes than I.


Here we have the finished product(s). Let me just say, this photo does not do their size(s) justice.

As for the recipe, here is what I can remember (my written copy is downstairs, and.....no, I will not go retrieve it).
I used two packets of Fleishmann's Active Dry yeast. You dissolve those suckers in two cups of warm water(110-120'F), in one large bowl. This will involve stirring. You must also add three tablespoon's of sugar to proof (which is, as best I can tell, a fancy way of saying 'make the yeast begin to grow at an alarming rate'), followed by two-thirds a cup of olive oil. That could be one-third, but I'm fairly certain the former is correct. Now, you add a little over three cups of whole wheat flour. Next, you let the stuff (referred to in the recipe as 'the sponge', straight out of a B-horror flick) rest for twenty minutes. You can take this time to add...a measurement I really can't remember. Downstairs I go. Ugh.

Ah yes, a ten minute search has yielded the recipe book which was in this room the entire time. Glorious. So anyway, while 'the sponge' slee- I mean, 'rests', in another small bowl you should add the following: two teaspoons salt, three fourths a cup of grated parmesan, two teaspoons of garlic powder, two teaspoons of dried basil, and one teaspoon of dried oregano. Mix 'em all up. Go do something else for fifteen minutes. Then, mash the sponge about a tad bit, and stir in the parmesan/herb mixture. Add around one cup of bread flour next, just enough to make the dough easy to handle. Now for the fun part! Knead the dough, always on a lightly floured surface, for about ten minutes. If you have not kneaded bread dough before, you should know that you will find it necessary to re-flour the surface every so often. Unless I'm doing this wrong. If you do not, it will stick to your countertop. That is not fun. After you are done kneading, divide the dough into two round loaves and let them rise on a couple of baking pans for forty-five minutes. I only used one, but it got a wee bit crowded.
Now that you have occupied yourself while the bread rose, it must now bake inside of at oven at the Fahrenheit temperature 350 for the duration of thirty/thirty-five minutes.

Be warned, this is very aromatic stuff. It is also really, really good.

Hail those of you who are about to bake. We salute you!