This Rosemary Bread with Sesame and Sea Salt has all the cozy feels of Sunday morning baking!
I have a decent sized stack of food magazines pretty hidden from view on the bottom shelf of my book case. Every once in a while, the corner of an inspiring cover will catch my eye, forcing me to make a cup of tea and spend a minute or two flipping through its glossy pages. During one such event, the Bon Appétit from September 2018 won my gaze. I have held on to it knowing that the revelation would occur – that a recipe from its delicious pages would leave me no choice but to bake.
Enter: Rosemary Bread with Sesame and Sea Salt
A glorious bread to make and share throughout the holiday season.
Crusty with a sagey, slightly piney punch from the fresh rosemary, speckled with sesame seeds that impart a nutty, sweet flavor, and hints of sea salt…
Crisp exterior. Soft interior. We are talking bread heaven!
INGREDIENTS FOR ROSEMARY BREAD WITH SESAME SEEDS AND SEA SALT:
- Active dry yeast
- Unbleached all-purpose flour
- Olive oil
- Minced fresh rosemary
- Semolina flour (pasta flour)
- Fine-grained sea salt
- Sesame seeds
- Flaky sea salt
There’s a pretty good chance that you have most everything you need. I adapted the recipe slightly to include more rosemary and sesame seeds.
Here’s to special recipes that rouse us to warm up the kitchen and get our bake on…
Buon Appetito!
MORE ROSEMARY-INSPIRED RECIPES:
Crispy Mini Potatoes with Parmesan & Rosemary
Pan Seared Porterhouse Pork Chops with Rosemary & Thyme
Purple Potato Chips with Garlic & Rosemary
Rosemary Bread with Sesame and Sea Salt
Description
This Rosemary Bread with Sesame and Sea Salt has all the cozy feels of Sunday morning baking!
Ingredients
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. minced fresh rosemary
2 1/2 cups semolina flour (pasta flour), plus more
2 tsp. fine-grained sea salt
2 Tbsp. sesame seeds, divided
1 tsp. flaky sea salt
Instructions
Place 1 1/4 cups warm water (105 F – 115) in a medium bowl; sprinkle yeast over and stir to blend. Let stand 5 minutes to soften.
Whisk to dissolve yeast.
Add 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour; whisk until smooth.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let stand at room temperature until bubbles form and yeast mixture more than doubles in volume, about 45 minutes.
Whisk 1/2 cup warm water, olive oil, and rosemary in a large bowl to blend. Using a rubber spatula, mix in 2 1/2 cups semolina flour and fine-grained sea salt (dough will be very dry). Stir in yeast mixture.
Work in 3/4 cup all-purpose flour. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, adding more all-purpose flour by the tablespoon if sticky.
Let rest 5 minutes.
Knead until dough springs back when pressed with thumb, about 8 minutes.
Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer dough to bowl; turn to coat.
Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface. Flatten dough into an 18×12″ rectangle. Starting from one long side, roll tightly to form a 2 1/2″-diameter, 20″-long log. With seam side down, shape log into a ring, inserting one end into second end; smooth seam.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle sheet with additional semolina flour. Transfer dough ring to prepared sheet, reshaping as necessary to form a smooth circle.
Sprinkle with 1 1/2 Tbsp. sesame seeds, pressing lightly to adhere. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Let bread rise at room temperature until almost doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.
Heat oven to 400 F. Remove plastic wrap from bread. Using a sharp knife, cut a 1/4″ slit all the way around top of loaf.
Spray bread lightly with water. Sprinkle with remaining sesame seeds and flaky sea salt.
Transfer to oven. Bake bread 15 minutes, spraying lightly with water every 5 minutes.
Continue to bake without spraying until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, about 30 minutes more.
Transfer bread to rack and cool completely.
Notes
This recipe is slightly adapted from Bon Appétit: Essential Breads
Beautifully loaf! Baking bread is always such a relaxing and satisfying process. Love the addition of rosemary … one of my faves! Hope your week is going great 🙂 XO
It’s a wonderful endeavor! Thanks, friend! XO
I love fresh bread with rosemary and yours is so beautiful, Annie! I love the shape you made!
And it smells soooo good!! 🙂
This sounds absolutely heavenly and looks just beautiful Annie! What a fabulous bread recipe for the holiday season. Need to add it to my baking list for sure. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks, Mary Ann! It’s a fun one!!
I have a little stack of cooking magazines too, that have enough treasures to avoid the recycle bin. Bon Appetit happens to be my favorite cooking magazine a d just look at this gorgeous bread! Love the rosemary in this…I bet it smells incredible too.
Yep! Exactly! Oh – yes – the aroma alone is worth the bake! Thanks, Marissa!
You know you are speaking my language with this one! So pretty and loving the use of semolina flour. Just imagining all the great flavours. Can’t wait to try it!
It’s a real treat!! Thanks, Jennifer!
I was wondering how you made that shape! It’s beautiful! I like the sesame seeds, too.
So pretty, and delish! Thanks, Mimi!!