Italian Herb Bread

This is the kind of bread that makes you want to sang some every time you walk through the kitchen. It's a perfect accompaniment to a light dinner, soup or salad and makes Excellent garlic bread! If only garlic didn't have sulfites... Here's the recipe:

Italian Herb Bread:

Ingredients:

1 1/3 C. water
4 1/4 C. bread flour
1 T. dried Italian herb mix
2 t. salt
3 T. honey
2 T. olive oil
2 1/2 t. active dry yeast

Directions:

Follow your bread machine's instructions for adding ingredients. My machine is a Zojirushi model  BB-PAC20 and the instructions below have been adapted for my machine.

Remove the baking pan from the bread machine and attach the kneading blades. Precisely measure all ingredients and add them to the baking pan in the following order:
1. Water
2. Flour (make a mound)
3. Salt and Herbs
4.  Oil and Honey
5. make a depression in the middle of the mound and place the yeast in the depression
*Make sure the yeast does not touch any liquid or the dough may not rise sufficiently.
Insert the baking pan into the bread machine and close the lid. Select the regular basic course (white bread) to bake the bread in the machine or the dough course if you want to make free form loaves. Press Start and let your machine do all the hard work!

For 2 smaller or free form loaves: 

When the machine beeps to let you know the dough is ready, gently remove the baking pan and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough in half and gently place in lightly floured baking pans or form into loaves and place on lightly floured baking sheet. Cover the loaves with a towel and allow to rise in a warm place until they double their size (time will vary depending on conditions). Bake in a 375F oven for 35 minutes until loaves are golden and their is a hollow sound when you gently knock on the bottom of a loaf. Place hot loaves on a rack and cool completely before storing.

This recipe would also make incredible bread sticks.


Yield: One 2lb. loaf or two 1lb. loaves