Ingredients
Scale
- 3 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/3 cup high quality olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
- parchment paper
- baking stone
Instructions
- Mix the 3 cups of bread flour, yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk. Meanwhile, set you oven temp to the lowest or on the ‘warm’ setting.
- Fill a 2 cup glass measuring cup with the water and olive oil. Heat it in the microwave for 1 minute. With the mixer running on low (with the dough hook), slowly add the warm liquid to the flour mixture. Then knead the bread on medium low for about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the dough hook. Add the chopped rosemary and knead just until incorporated. The dough should clear the sides but stick to the bottom.
- Turn your oven off. Remove the dough out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured surface. Hand knead for a few seconds to form a nice round ball. Place into a large bowl lightly oiled with olive oil and cover with plastic wrap. Set the bowl in the warm oven to rise for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until doubled in size.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, remove the bowl from the oven. Set a baking stone on the center rack. Place an oven safe skillet on the bottom rack. Set the oven to 425 degrees.
- Remove the dough and again place on a floured surface. Gently shape into a boule (rounded loaf) and place on a flat baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Gently rub flour all over the surface and slice a very shallow cross hatch pattern on the top with a razor blade or very sharp knife. Gently place plastic over the dough and let the dough rise for about 30-40 minutes on top of the warm oven.
- Slide the parchment paper and dough onto the hot baking stone. Fill the skillet below with about 1 cup of water. Bake the bread at 425 for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 400 and bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the internal temp is 200 degrees. Remove the bread and let cool on a cooling rack for at least 1 hour before serving.