Wine Bread

I like wine. I really like bread. Wine bread? Sign me up!

Carbs, cutlery, and Cabernet

Sorry for the long absence (again). Doing the whole baby thing again. So I am back to changing diapers and making bottles instead of cooking fun things. But baby #2 is a few months old and getting a handle on life, so I had a bit of free time the other weekend.

Aside: I do not remember how I stumbled across this recipe (baby brain and all), but due diligence makes me post the source.

Resources:
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh yeast or 1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
1/4 cup Cabernet, slightly warmed
1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:
Lightly mix together flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, rosemary, and pepper in a large bowl. Dissolve yeast in warm wine, add water to wine and mix all of the liquid into the dry ingredients until incorporated. Do not overmix. Cover the bowl with a towel and put it in a warm place to rise for sixteen hours.

After sixteen hours, fold the dough into itself so the top is tucked in the center and the bottom is now on the top. Place it back in the bowl, cover it, and let rise for 2 hours. When you have 30 minutes left of rise time, place a dutch oven in the oven at 450 degrees. Let it heat up for 30 minutes. Once heated, remove pot from oven, pour in olive oil and swirl to coat. Place the bread into the pot, top with remaining 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, cover, and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, or until the bread has a golden crust.

Commentary:
Homemade bread: to me it is always way too much time to benefit ratio. The grocery has amazing fresh bread. There are bakers and farmer’s markets a plenty with amazing fresh bread. So why did I make this? A couple reasons: 1) this is really super easy (see baby discussion above), 2) the flavor combination looked unique/interesting, and 3) it left me 92% of a bottle of wine to drink. Also since is a lot effort recipe, you are getting a low effort post by the way.

So kind of cool experience with this whole deal, I had only ever used dry active yeast previously. I could not find that in the store and bought fresh yeast. Luckily I did a quick Google and discovered it is a two to one ratio.

Sixteen hours is a really shitty time frame to work with. Sixteen hours after noon? Four AM. Fuck that noise. Schedule according. That said I ended it putting this in the oven closer to nineteen hours later, not eightteen hours. No regrets. 

Conclusion:
Tasty bread and an excuse to buy wine?!? Yes please! Just pull up your schedule before beginning.