Gourmet's Fabulous Garlic Herb Bread Twists

This month's Gourmet includes a recipe for Garlic Herb Bread Twists - YUM.

We made these bread twists in the N Georgia mountains on July 8 and 9th. They are so good that we were embarrassed to note that three adults and one three year old ate all nine rolls at the two meals when we served them (that's 18 rolls between us all over two days and the three year old only ate about 1/2 of one at each meal)!

It's a two step deal. First you have to make the pizza dough. Here's the recipe for it:

2 packages active dry yeast
4 1/2 - 5 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour divided, plus additional for dusting
2 cups warm water, divided
2 tsp salt.

• Whisk together the yeast, 2 T flour and 1/4 cup warm water in a cup and let it stand until it develops a creamy foam (about 10 minutes)
• Stir together salt and 3 cups flour in a large bowl.
• Add yeast mix and remaining 1 1/2 cups warm water and stir until smooth
• Stir in 1 cup more flour. If the dough is sticky, stir in just enough flour to make the dough pull away from the side of the bowl.
• Knead dough lightly reflouring work surface when dough becomes too sticky, until dough is soft and elastic (about 10 minutes)
• Divide dough in half and form two balls.
• Generously dust balls all over with flour and put each in a medium bowl to rise.
• Cover bowls with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled (about 1 - 1 1/4 hours).
  

Note: Dough can rise slowly in refrigerator for a day. Bring to room temp before using.

That last sentence is key. The first recipe of dough rose at room temperature and I used it that night. It was sticky and continued to absorb flour as I shaped it into sticks.

The bread sticks were fabulous and we ate all nine of them, but they didn't compare to the recipe the second night when I left the dough in the fridge overnight, rising. I didn't have time to get it completely to room temperature before using it the second night and those bread sticks were the best ever. My theory is that they didn't take in any extra flour.

OK, so my suggestion would be to let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator.

Then:
Here's the recipe for turning them into the gorgeous (and delicious) bread sticks pictured above:

1 T finely chopped rosemary
1 T finely chopped thyme
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (2 oz) divided
1/4 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 lb pizza dough from above recipe
1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley

It probably helped the magnificence of the recipe that we cut all the herbs fresh from the garden just before chopping.

• Preheat oven to 400 F with racks in upper and lower thirds.
• Lightly oil 2 large baking sheets
• Stir together rosemary, thyme, 1/4 cup cheese/ 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper in a separate bowl
• Stir oil, garlic and 1/4 tsp salt and pepper in another bowl (I used all of this up on half the dough and remade it the next night)
• Divide dough in half.
• Keeping half the dough covered, roll the other half into a 15 X 10 inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin(this is where the first recipe took in more flour)
• Sprinkle one half of the dough crosswise with half the herb mixture, then fold the dough in half crosswise and roll lightly to form a 10X8 inch rectangle
• Cut lengthwise into 9 strips (less than 1 inch wide) with a pizza wheel or sharp knife
• Keeping strips covered with a towel, twist each strip from both ends and place on baking sheet 1 inch apart
• Brush with 1 T garlic oil and let stand for about 5 minutes
• Bake bread twists for 20 - 25 minutes until golden
• Meanwhile stir together parsley and remaining 3/4 cup cheese in shallow pan
• Immediately after baking, brush bread twists with remaining garlic oil and roll the twists in parsley and cheese until coated
• Serve warm or at room temperature.
  

DELICIOUS - we only made half the recipe one night and the other half the next night.

Cornstalk Rolls from Gourmet Feb '09

This month's Gourmet features rolls on the cover - lots and lots of rolls. Yesterday I baked two of the recipes. This recipe is for the Crusty Cornstalk Rolls on pg 86 of Gourmet.

Here's the recipe:

• 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used bread flour)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup plus 2 T stone-ground yellow cornmeal, divided (I used white stone-ground corn meal)
  

and a spray bottle filled with water.

Stir together the yeast, 1/4 cup warm water and honey in a large bowl and let stand until foamy.
Note: I am a beekeeper and am partial to recipes that specify honey as an ingredient!)

Mix together flour, salt, 1/2 cup cornmeal, and remaining cup of warm water. (I messed up and put all of the warm water for the yeast to soften in and it didn't make a difference in these delicious rolls)

I mixed mine in the mixer, changing to a dough hook pretty much right away.

Continue to knead on the counter.

Put dough in oiled bowl to rise (about 1 1/2 - 2 hours) until doubled.

Turn out dough and gently roll into a 12 inch long log. Sprinkle a baking sheet with the remaining 2 T cornmeal and put dough diagonally in the center. Alternating sides, make 3 inch long diagonal cuts with kitchen shears. Gently pull apart cuts to stretch dough, forming rolls that remain connected to the central stalk. Allow to rise, covered with a kitchen towel (not terry) for about another 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 with rack in the middle. Spray rolls with water, then bake, spraying into oven 3 times in the first 5 minutes of baking. Bake until golden - about 20 minutes.



We had these with spaghetti on Saturday night. I reheated the rolls on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven for about 7 minutes.



Delicious - had a baguette like feel to them and even a little sour taste - don't know why since there's no starter or buttermilk involved?