Sourdough Rosemary Bread with Olive Oil

This sourdough rosemary bread with olive oil is made with both natural and commercial yeast. If you'd like to skip the commercial yeast in the final dough for a stronger sourdough flavor, just allow for a longer rise time.

This bread is wonderful dipped in olive oil and balsamic with some ground pepper, or even made into garlic cheese toast. It also makes excellent garlic croutons. The crust is super crunchy, and the bread itself is so full of the flavor of rosemary.

If you don't have a sourdough starter, you can substitute a poolish. Mix about 7 ounces of water with 7 ounces of flour, add a 1/4 tsp. of instant yeast, stir, cover, and let the mixture sit for about 8 hours at room temperature and then overnight in the refrigerator.

Sourdough Rosemary Bread with Olive Oil Recipe

Makes two 20 ounce loaves

Adapted from Amy's Bread, Revised and Updated: Artisan-style breads, sandwiches, pizzas, and more from New York City's favorite bakery

Ingredients

2 ounces warm water (105 to 110 degrees F)

1 tsp active dry yeast

14 ounces 100% hydration sourdough starter

8 ounces room temperature water

3 T. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 C fresh rosemary, chopped

15.3 ounces unbleached all purpose flour

2.8 ounces whole wheat flour

1 T plus 2 tsp Kosher salt

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the warm water and yeast and let it sit for about 5 minutes until foamy.
2. Add the starter, the water, olive oil, and rosemary and mix with you hands, a dough whisk, or the paddle attachment for a couple of minutes. 
3. Add the flour and salt and mix on low with the dough hook until it comes together. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a bowl scraper and adjust the hydration with extra water or flour. 
4. Knead on medium low for about 7 minutes. Let the dough rest, covered with plastic wrap, for 20 minutes. Knead for another couple of minutes. The dough should be soft, tacky, and not very stiff. 
5. Put the dough into an oiled bowl or dough rising bucket and let it rise, covered with plastic wrap, for one hour. After and hour, deflate the dough by folding it over itself from all four "sides" and then placing it seam side down in the oiled bowl. Cover and refrigerated the dough for 8 to 16 hours. 
6. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature, about 2 hours. 
7. Flour two nine inch brotforms/bannetons (see the photo in this post) or bowls. 
8. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and gently form them into boules. Be careful not to deflate the dough too much. Place them seam side up in the baskets/bowls and cover with plastic wrap. 
9. Allow to rise for about 75 to 120 minutes, until doubled. 
10. In the meantime, place two cast iron Dutch ovens into the oven and preheat it to 450 degrees F.
11. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pans from the oven, turn the dough out into the pans, slash, cover, and return them to the oven. 
12. Bake, covered, for 20 minutes, carefully remove the lids from the pans, lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees F, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer, until the bread interior reaches 200 degrees F. (Note: Sometimes I will move the breads to a sheet pan at about 25 minutes to prevent burning of the bottom of the loaf.)
13. Cool on a wire rack. 

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