As you know I have made many, many Taste of Home recipes but this is one of my all time favorite recipes for so many reasons. I don’t consider myself a baker and most definitely not a bread baker. Aren’t there bread machines for such things? Well, when I read this recipe I thought this was too good to be true. There was no way the bread is going to taste so good with such little work. Well, boy was I wrong! The bread was amazing and just as easy as the recipe says! But another thing I love about this recipe is that you can add herbs and spices to the bread adding different flavors. One of the volunteer field editors added course salt and rosemary to the dough! How good does that sound? I should also tell you how good this makes your house smell while it bakes. So easy and so delicious…I will be making this over and over!
NOTE– A number of people made this in various pans, loaf pan, round pan even a pie plate. I needed to cover my bread with foil after the first 20 minutes of baking.
INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (110- 115 degrees)
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit for just a couple minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients to form a wet dough. Cover and let rest in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Stir the dough down, transfer to a grease 2 1/2 quart baking dish. Cover and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled, about 1 more hour. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake 20 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Check to be sure the bread is not browning too much. If so, place tin foil over the top. Bake another 20 minutes. Remove bread from oven and remove from pan to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Enjoy!
