I have an Aerogarden hyrdoponic garden and am growing salad leaves and some herbs in it. One of the herbs is Thyme which is flourishing so I needed to find a recipe to use some of the leaves. I came across this recipe for Garlic and Thyme Bread on Goodfood and it is very simple to make. I have already made it once, so I know that it turns out well and tastes great.
I have varied the recipe slightly, in the amount of thyme used. The recipe on Goodfood says a ‘bunch’ of thyme. I think time has a very strong flavour and ‘bunch’ is a rather imprecise measure. So I chopped enough leaves to make a tablespoon full. That was easily enough to impart a great flavour into the bread. But, of course, using more would be fine for those wanting a stronger flavour.
The recipe can be done entirely by hand, which is probably best as this is only a small loaf, and doesn’t take too much time, apart from the 2 hours of resting/proving time.
The result is a very pleasing bread that is ideal, buttered, with soup. It would also work well made into rolls I am sure, but I stuck with the loaf format.
Ingredients:
- 250 g strong bread flour, plus extra for dusting
- 150 ml warm water
- 1 tsp (4 grams)dry active yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1 bunch thyme, chopped ( chopped mine and used 1 tbsp)
- Put the flour into a mixing bowl and mix in the salt, then make a well in the centre.
- Dissolve the dried yeast in the warm water and add the sugar and leave for 5 minutes.
- Pour the water and yeast into the well,
- With a wooden spoon, start mixing the flour with the yeasted water, gathering the flour in from the sides, working outwards and make a firm dough.
- Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 8 minutes.
- Flatten the dough into a circle and add the chopped garlic and thyme.
- Fold the dough over and then knead for a further 2 minutes until the garlic and thyme are mixed through.
- Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove for 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/gas 7/430F, and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Knead the dough for 2-3 minutes and shape into an oval loaf.
- Make 2.5cm slashes in the dough with a very sharp knife and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
- Dust with flour and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. The bread is ready when you knock the bottom and it sounds hollow.
- Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
Looks great I am looking for 1 lb bread recipes and can't wait to try it. Loved the video