- Hey everyone.

Welcome back to "The Baking Journal."

Today we are making this delicious roasted garlic and herb bread, and I'm gonna show you how to paint a lovely design on it as well.

Let's get started.

Start by heating up some olive oil in a small sauce pan and adding about a fourth of a cup of finely chopped onions.

Give them a good stir and then add your chopped herbs.

I'm using rosemary and thyme, but you can use whatever combination you like most.

So here's our wonderful roasted garlic.

Oh, my gosh, if you guys could smell it, it is totally divine.

We're gonna add the roasted garlic to our onion and herb mixture.

See how nice and soft that garlic is?

It is just so sweet and soft, and it's so easy just to combine it into a nice little paste.

Before we get started on the bread dough, I am excited to say that this episode is produced with support from Edible Ohio Valley.

This is a quarterly magazine highlighting the people who grow, raise and produce food close to us.

Their link is listed in the description below.

And now, back to the recipe.

Let's make some bread dough.

Mix together four cups of bread flour, granulated sugar, a little salt, and a teaspoon of instant yeast.

Add two tablespoons of olive oil and one and a half cups of warm water.

Remember, your water shouldn't be too warm or it will deactivate the yeast.

Turn your stand mixer to medium speed with the dough hook attachment.

Once the dough has come together, add half of the herb garlic mixture.

Save the rest of it for another loaf of bread, or maybe make a compound butter with it.

So yummy.

Let that go on medium speed for about eight to 10 minutes until the dough gathers into a smooth ball.

Transfer it into a greased bowl, cover and set it aside until it's doubled in size.

Once risen, coax the dough onto a lightly flowered surface, kneading it by hand until it's nice and smooth.

This shouldn't take too long, but it will make a difference in the finished product.

Cover and let the dough rest for about 10 minutes.

Shape it into a tight ball and place it into an oiled bread cloche or a heavy bottom Dutch oven.

So now we're going to let this rise for about 45 minutes or so.

Don't forget that during that last 15 minutes, go ahead and start preheating your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

This has risen beautifully, and now, we're gonna do a little fancy decorating, but it is so easy.

You are going to be just so thrilled.

I'm just gonna paint little simple flowers all around.

I'm using gel food coloring, the same gel food coloring that I use when I bake cakes and color up icing.

No water, no nothing, just straight from the jar.

I think we're good.

Now, before we put it in the oven, we have to score the bread and I'm gonna go all the way around underneath my flowers.

I want my design to stay intact as much as it can.

So I'm just...

I'm going in fairly deep, like maybe a half an inch at least to get that dough separated to give it some expansion room.

I'm gonna pop the lid on and we're gonna put it in a 450-degree oven for a half an hour.

And then, we're gonna check it and lower the temperature to 375 and take the lid off and let it get brown anywhere from five to 10 minutes, just depending on your oven.

One way to know when your bread is fully baked is to check the internal temperature and make sure it's at 200 degrees.

So I'm just gonna put this thermometer towards the center of our bread and ah, this is awesome.

It's right at 201.

Perfect.

Oh, my goodness.

You guys, look at this bread.

It is gorgeous, but it also smells so heavenly.

I can smell the roasted garlic, I can smell the herbs.

This is a keeper recipe.

I really hope you give it a try.

It is lovely for dinner.

It would be lovely for breakfast.

It would be lovely to take to a dinner party and impress your family and friends.

If you liked watching today, please give me a like and make sure you subscribe and I'll see you next time on another episode of "The Baking Journal."