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Seems like forever since I've dug my hands into some soft, squishy dough, stretched and kneaded it into a glossy, springy ball and made some homemade bread.
For a long time I was making my own bread almost every day. Or at least every other day. I had the luxury of time and love the meditative rhythm of this domestic activity.
Then things got so busy over the holidays that I simply got out of the habit.
This morning, once again, I was overcome with the need to knead.
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This Olive oil dough is the perfect blank canvas. Some delicious combinations I've experimented with:
- extra bits of cheese (something we always have lying around) and tomatoes
- a mélange of raw onions and minced garlic
- a simple mix of fresh herbs such as rosemary or thyme, and a heavy drizzling of olive oil
- caramelized onions
- a gutsy mix of bacon and arugula
- roasted red peppers and ricotta
- coarse sea salt, red pepper flakes and olive oil
Today I made up an interesting mix out of a few things I had sitting in the fridge; a half a bag of arugula, a couple green onions and some feta. I chopped up the onions and arugula and mixed them in a bowl with some olive oil, salt and spicy red pepper flakes. Those were scattered on the dough and then dotted with crumbled feta cheese.
It was excellent!
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Simple Olive Oil Dough
- 1 1/3 cup (325 mls) lukewarm water
- 1 packet yeast
- 1/3 cup (75 mls) extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 to 4 cups (450-600 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
Switch to a wooden spoon and stir in the salt and slowly incorporate enough flour to make a soft dough.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead, using as little extra flour as possible, for about 5 minutes. The dough should look satiny and feel moist but shouldn't stick to clean hands.
Place the dough in a large, clean bowl, cover with a tea towel and let it rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size, at least 1 hour. Two hours is better.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Punch down the dough and stretch onto a cornmeal sprinkled or olive oil drizzled baking sheet.
Add toppings of your choice and let it rest while the oven warms up.
Bake until golden about 30-35 minutes.
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