Italian Herb Bread

Thanks to Snow White for this recipe. Check out her blog, Finding Joy in My Kitchen, for some fantastic recipes. She found this recipe from Jane and modified it to work in the bread machine. I then found Snow White's version and slightly modified it again. I made this bread last night and it made our house smell so delicious. It is very light and tasty. This recipe is similar to a braid I made a few weeks ago but better

Ingredients
1 cup warm water + 1 tbsp
1/8 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp white sugar
1/2 T dried basil - I didn't have any so I used Italian seasoning
1/2 T dried oregano
1/2 tsp. garlic powder**
1/2 tsp. onion flakes
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used my sun dried tomato blend again)
2 1/4 tsp. bread machine yeast

**Resist the urge to add more garlic. If you are like me, you love a garlicky bread. However, garlic acts as an inhibitor to yeast. So, make sure the garlic doesn't touch the yeast in your bread machine and don't add any extra. In fact, I added less than this because my Italian seasoning and parm cheese blend both have garlic in them. If you want a stronger garlic flavour, you can brush the top of your bread with melted butter mixed with garlic powder after you bake it.

Directions
1. Add ingredients to the bread pan in the order listed. (Remember, try to keep the garlic and yeast away from each other).

2. Select dough cycle. Go sit on the couch for a long time.

3. When cycle is complete, turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Punch dough down to release air. Form into a loaf and place in greased loaf pan. Snow White made hers into rolls, which would also be so tasty. I needed a loaf of bread, so I did it this way.

4. Cover and let rise until doubled. I'm wary of putting a time on this one because mine was doubled within 15 minutes. The oven (where I sat it on) was warm though, so this would have made a difference.



5. Bake at 350-375 for around 30 minutes, until the top is brown and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap it. I wasn't too pumped about the shape that this loaf took on, but hey, when it tastes that good - who cares?

6. Eat three slices immediately. (Oops -my bad).

Be sure to see my post below about Denise's awesome giveaway.