Bread in summer? You bet! Here in Canada, the summers are much cooler than what I am accustomed to in Hotlanta. Yesterday the temps climbed to a whopping 31C (about 88F), which to me is a cool spring morning – apologies to all those suffering from massive heat waves this summer! Even if it is hot in your area, this recipe only takes 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven so it’s not really going to blast you out of your kitchen in normal summer temps.
I was thumbing through the July issue of BON APPÉTIT magazine and came across a photo of herbed bread rolled into spirals that looked delicious. Our herbs are growing like wildfire this summer so I leapt at the chance to use some of them. I had also gone to the farmer’s market on Sunday and come home with fresh peas, kohlrabi and purple spring onions, so I wanted to showcase fresh produce and herbs for dinner. Now I used to be a huge fan of Bon Apetit magazine and had collected over 20 years worth starting in 1978. Over the years, however, I have become less than enthusiastic about it since either I had outgrown it or it had begun to try to appeal to the busy Mom instead of the serious cooking enthusiast. This recipe, however, may make me take another look.
The recipe I started with is Cilantro Scallion Bread from the July 2011 issue. I say started because I am somehow completely incapable of following a recipe as instructed. The ingredients as written are:
However, I substituted fresh oregano for the cilantro.
Their recipe instructs you to sprinkle 1/2 the sugar AND the salt, with the yeast over 1/2 cup very warm water and let stand for 10 minutes until it bubbles. I chose to only include the sugar with the yeast and added all of the salt to the flour. You can also use rapid rise yeast.
Next, their recipe has you using both a mixer and a processor whereas I opted to do the whole thing in my processor fitted with the dough blade. So into the large bowl on the processor; add the flour, salt & remaining sugar and pulse a couple of times to blend. Then add the butter and pulse until you have coarse meal. Add the egg & egg yolk along with the yeast mixture and pulse until well blended. At this point you may need to scrape down the inside of the bowl but I didn’t find it necessary. Then simply turn it on for 5 minutes and let the dough blade knead the dough. You should end up with a soft, slightly sticky dough. Place it into a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap to let rise in a warm place until doubled or about an hour.
Meanwhile, in the small bowl of the processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse onions and herbs until finely minced. Remove from processor and add the olive oil and the sesame seeds, stirring to combine well.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the risen dough to form a 9” x 18” rectangle and coat it evenly with the onion and herb mixture. Roll it up jelly roll style starting from the narrow end. Slice into 3/4” slices and place on a baking sheet lined with silpat or parchment paper. Brush each roll with olive oil or to make it really easy, spray with canned olive oil. At this point I opted to add a twist of coarsely ground sea salt atop each roll. Bake for about 30 minutes, turning the baking sheet midway through to ensure even browning.
That’s it! Written down it seems like more work than it actually is. Heck, washing the processor took me longer than preparing these. I love the herby flavor and the salt really kicked it up. Give it a try with whatever herbs you have on hand, I may add a bit of cheese next time too. These rolls are worth thinking ahead a little for since you do need to let them rise but they are about the easiest herb bread you an make.
Is it hot in the kitchen? yeah, maybe but these are so tasty you can always eat al fresco while the kitchen cools!
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