Creative Knitting – Beyond Knit and Purl

As the  smell of fresh garlic and onion bread wafted through the house today, I sat knitting on a pair of socks, and watched the snowflakes fall from the winter sky.   Wow, I thought, it can’t get any better than this.

Then it occurred to me as I removed the bread loaves from the oven, that you might be interested in my infamous Garlic Onion Bread recipe.  So I decide to share it before I made my next couple of knitting posts which will be on short row heels and toes.

Believe me when I tell you that this is my “secret” weapon in our household.  My husband would do anything for me, just to have this bread on hand.

I developed this recipe after years of baking, and just plain “dinkin'” around with all kinds of breads.  The one advantage of this particular bread is that it retains it’s moisture longer than most.  Of course, it doesn’t last very long with someone slicing on it every chance he gets.  Anyway, I thought you might like to try it.  Here goes!  This recipe make 2 large loaves.

Day one– or 24 hours before you want to make it,  in large bowl, mix together 2 cups of white bread flour, 2 tablespoons of dry yeast, and 2 cups of warm water.  Cover and let sit at room tempt over night.  * I usually give it the full 24 hrs.  You will use all of this “sponge” for your bread.

Day two – Finely chop 1 cup of onion, and place in colander to drain.  Mean while, measure 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/2 cup chopped garlic( I get mine at Costco) 1/4 cup vinegar(either kind) and place them into a small sauce pan.  Add drained onion, and heat ingredients to simmer, stirring as needed. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool slightly .

While this mixture is cooling, pour the soured bread mixture (sponge) into the large bowl of your mixer. Get out your dough hooks.  Next, mix 6 cups of flour with one tablespoon of sea salt, and stir together to blend.

Once the onion garlic mixture is cool enough to touch, turn your mixer on medium speed and start adding the onion/garlic mixture in a spoonful at a time.  Let it mix for about one minute.  Now turn your mixer on slow, and start adding in the *remaining flour. Mix until your dough cleans the sides of the bowl.

Remove dough from mixer. If it is a bit sticky, use some bench flour to knead in just enough for it to leave your hands.  Now, grease the surface, cover it up and place it in a warm place to double in size.

Next, punch it down and divide in half.  Knead each half lightly and place on greased cookie sheet, or divided French bread pan. Turn on oven to 400 degrees.  Cover bread and set on top of stove to rise (I do this because the oven vent seems to work great for this purpose).  When the bread is ready to bake, spray the surface of the bread with plain water.  Bake it for 10 min.  Spray it again.  Bake 10 min.  Spray it again. Let it bake 10 more minutes (30 minutes total). Remove and cool on rack.  Enjoy!

* I recommend that you add all but one cup of the flour mixture in.  Why?  Because onions, evened drained, have varying degrees of moisture. So if they are bit dry, you might not need all the remainder of the flour mixture to get it to the point of leaving the sides of the bowl. Also, if you do not have a Kitchen Aid like I have it is easier to knead in some extra by hand.