Herb Bread

MAXINE HODDINOTT — OpenSquare, Seattle

Black Resource Group | We Are Open Resource Group

PREP TIME: 1 hour, 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 45 minutes | TOTAL TIME: 2 hours

I learned to make this when I was in college — it's an old hippie recipe that is quick to make, and wonderful for toast in the morning.

Combine warm water, yeast, and sugar in a bowl and set aside.

Warm milk and mix with butter till melted – cool a wee bit before throwing into a big bowl.

Warm the oven at this point for the dough to raise ahead of time – not too hot.

Add in to big bowl onion, salt, dried herbs, spices and powdered sugar.

Toss in the bowl until well mixed.

Add in the warm milk and butter, proofed yeast, and water to the big bowl and stir to mix well.

Add in the flour.

This is a pretty wet dough so just stir with a tough wooden spoon well until all mixed and together – scrape to the bottom of the bowl – butter the insides, cover and tuck in a warm spot for 1 hour to rise.

When triple-ish in bulk stir down and pour the sticky mess into a well-buttered bread loaf pan – let rest, covered with paper towel for about 10 minutes – about the amount of time to crank up the oven to 350° F.

When oven is fully heated to 350° F, bake the bread for about 1 hour – checking at around 45 minutes. The top should be a warm brown, the kitchen should smell wonderful, and the bread should be pulled away from the sides of the pan.

Pop out of the pan and cool well before cutting – while cooling run some butter over the top to melt in and enjoy!

This is a rather forgiving dough – you can add powdered garlic, onion, or any number of dried herbs. They bloom flavor better if you can pour the warm milk and butter over them before it totally cools down – if you do this, wait a minute before throwing the yeast in because you don’t want to kill it. ½ cup warm water

1 package of yeast

1 ½ tbsp sugar

½ cup of milk

1 tbsp butter

½ tbsp or more minced sweet onion – to taste (personally I like a smidge more)

½ tsp kosher salt

½ tbsp dried dill, thyme, oregano, and/or rosemary (this is up to you — I dump in the dill because I love it)

Cracked peppercorn to taste

¼ tsp powdered ginger

3 tbsp (or more to taste) fresh dill, finely chopped

2 ¼ cups all-purpose unbleached flour