Basil And Sage Bread

Total Time: 6 hrs Preparation Time: 5 hrs Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 1 envelope dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/2 cups rye flour or 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 3 cups flour
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup water or 1/2 cup wine
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 4 teaspoons dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried sage

Recipe

• 1 sprinkle yeast over 1 cup water in large bowl, stir to dissove.
• 2 let stand for 5 minutes.
• 3 mix rye and flour together to equal 6 cups flour.
• 4 mix 1 1/2 cups flour in with yeast/water, stir well.
• 5 sprinkle 1/2 cup flour over dough.
• 6 cover with plastic wrap or damp towel and let rise in warm area until doubled (1 1/2 hours).
• 7 heat oil in skillet over low heat.
• 8 add basil and sage, stir about 1 minute.
• 9 remove from heat and cool.
• 10 blend 1 cup of flour, oil mixture, 1/2 cup water (or wine), salt and pepper into dough using a dough hook or by hand.
• 11 slowly add remainlng 1/2 cup water.
• 12 stir in remaining 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup at a time until dough is smooth and elastic (10 minutes if using dough hook), adding more flour if dough is still sticky.
• 13 grease large bowl.
• 14 add dough, turning to coat all sides of dough.
• 15 cover bowl and let rise until doubled (1 1/2 hours).
• 16 grease two baking sheets.
• 17 punch dough down.
• 18 divide dough in half.
• 19 form each piece of dough into a 14-inch long loaf.
• 20 place on baking sheets, seam side down.
• 21 let rise in warm area until almost double (1 hour).
• 22 preheat oven to 400-degrees f.
• 23 slash tops of loaves with knife.
• 24 bake bread 50-60 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped on bottom and is golden brown.