Rubbed Sage and Wheat Bread
Herbed breads have been baked for centuries. They were thought to bring about many good luck charms to people’s lives such as health, wealth, good tidings, prosperity, fertility, and love. What they truly bring is incredibly strong flavor to what one might consider an ordinary loaf of bread. We know, you and I, that home baked bread already brings much more flavor to the table as well, so placing fresh garden herbs inside the folds of dough only makes it that much better!
Herb bread makes a delicious treat for your table. This bread, made with fresh or dried sage, has a delicious flavor and scent. It makes a wonderful sandwich for roasted chicken or turkey, buttery croutons, savory toast, or even a flavorful addition to your stuffing. Doesn’t that sound delightful? You can add herbs to any type of bread! Try mixing some into your next batch of biscuits, crackers, bread sticks, sourdough, dinner rolls, etc.
ingredients & recipe:
MAKES 2 LOAVES
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped finely, or 1 tsp dried sage, crushed
1 3/4 cups milk
1/4 brown sugar, packed
3 tbsp butter
2 tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 egg, beaten
2 fresh sage sprigs
DIRECTIONS:
In a large standing mixer with a dough hook attachment, combine 2 cups of all purpose flour, yeast, and sage. Set aside.
In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk, brown sugar, butter, and salt until just warm and the butter is almost melted. Add to the flour and yeast mixture. Beat on low speed and then move to high speed for about 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl.
Begin to incorporate the whole wheat flour and cornmeal. Continue to knead the dough and gradually add the remaining all purpose flour until the dough no longer clings to the sides of the bowl, but is soft and elastic.
Shape dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size, about one hour.
Deflate the dough, cover, and let rest 10 minutes. Divide the dough into two pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and place on a greased baking sheet.
Brush loaves with the beaten egg and place a sprig of sage on the top. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
Brush again with egg wash. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the bread is browned and sounds hollow when tapped on. Cool on a wire rack.
The addition of cornmeal really brings some sweet notes out of this bread recipe. I grind my own whole wheat and cornmeal at home with my KitchenAid Flour Mill, and it makes such a huge impact on the rich textures and deep flavor tones. Because my wheat is homeground, it’s often not as fine as at the store. I have to adjust my recipe due to this, so that means I add the wheat flour and let the dough knead a bit longer to see how it absorbs the courser grain. Then I add all purpose flour back in as needed. I have learned that a slightly wetter dough rises better and can be kneaded less. You can add up to 4 cups of all purpose flour to this dough, if you need to!
Happy baking and enjoy this gorgeous autumn weather.
xoxo Kayla
