Recipe Garlic and Herb Wholemeal Bread

[MypinchofItaly]

Wholemeal flour, red garlic and herbs all together for an explosion of flavours in this rustic loaf.
I've mixed the wholemeal flour with the more refined flour to allow the dough to rise enough.
The addition of garlic and herbs gives even more character. I've used Sulmona Red Garlic which has a strong and slightly piquant flavour.


500 g Loaf, Preparation 20 mins + about 2 hrs rising time, Cooking about 40 mins

• 300 g wholemeal flour
• 200 g all-purpose flour, Flour type 0, strong white flour
• 230 ml lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon Evoo oil
• 7 g instant yeast – one level teaspoon plus a pinch
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 12 g fine salt – approx. 2 level teaspoons
• 2 cloves of peeled red garlic - or white garlic
• Fresh aromatic herbs: 1 rosemary sprig, 1 thyme sprig, 3 small sage leaves or a teaspoon of each if dry.

Method

Tip: this rising process requires a warm environment. You can just warm up a little the oven, then turn it off. Or leave the mixture to rise near a radiator or in a dark oven with the light on.

Lightly roast the garlic cloves in a pan without adding fat. Finely chop them.
Finely chop also the rosemary, thyme and sage – you can trim the leaves with the help of scissors – put all the chopped herbs in a small bowl.

Sift the flours into a bowl together with the yeast and add the water little by little, stir lightly, add the oil, sugar and a little more water, stir again. Add the chopped herbs and garlic, the salt as last thing and start to knead.

Knead vigorously on a floured surface for at least 8-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and homogeneous.

Return the dough to the bowl, dust lightly with white flour, cover with a cotton cloth and place in the oven to rise for at least a couple of hours or until doubled in size.

Tip: don’t let the dough keep rising otherwise it will collapse after.

Knead again the dough for 5 minutes by folding it: stretch it horizontally, fold one half inside and fold the other in the same way.
Flip the dough over and roll it out again, then fold it as in the previous step.
If the dough is elastic enough you can stop at the second fold, otherwise repeat the operation again.

Now give the desired shape to the loaf, put a clean and floured tea towel in a mould that contains it – we used a springform cake – put the dough inside and cover it with the flaps of the tea towel.

Leave to rest for 20 mins at room temperature – warm enough if possible.

Meantime, heat the oven to 260°C / 500 F / 10 Gas Mark or the highest oven temp.

Place the dough onto a lined baking tray or springform cake with parchment paper, with a sharp knife make fairly deep cuts on top of the loaf.

Bake to 200°C / 400 F / 6 Gas Mark in static oven for about 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Very nice. I can see enjoying this thickly-sliced with a pat of butter, in a sandwich, or maybe by itself, since it seems so flavorful.

 

[MypinchofItaly]

Very nice. I can see enjoying this thickly-sliced with a pat of butter, in a sandwich, or maybe by itself, since it seems so flavorful.

Thank you
Yes butter works great, but for me there’s nothing better than a thickly-sliced of it with salame or cured ham or frittata

 

[Morning Glory]

It looks very good. I like the aromatic herbs with the garlic here. For some reason although I've made flavored breads it never occired to me to use garlic. My only thought - two cloves seems a quite small amount for a 500g loaf. Could more be added or would the flavour be overpowering?

 

[MypinchofItaly]

It looks very good. I like the aromatic herbs with the garlic here. For some reason although I've made flavored breads it never occired to me to use garlic. My only thought - two cloves seems a quite small amount for a 500g loaf. Could more be added or would the flavour be overpowering?

I think I have adapted it to a sort of Italian ratio. As you know, in Italy, with some exceptions, we use garlic with a certain moderation, because as much as we love it, we are always a bit wary of it, thus only one clove seemed too little whilst three too many, so I balanced to two. I also didn't want the bread to have too much garlic flavour because it has to coexist with the herbs and not overpower them.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I initially had the same thought about the quantity of garlic, too. But, then I realized that these are raw cloves of garlic. A little bit can go a long way.

 

[MypinchofItaly]

I initially had the same thought about the quantity of garlic, too. But, then I realized that these are raw cloves of garlic. A little bit can go a long way.

mmm, not properly raw, I’ve roasted them first in a pan. They were already pretty strong as flavour. Remember that I’ve used a type of Italian red garlic which is typically piquant