Italian Peasant Bread for Bread Machine

Jamie Renee's Note:

Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, this bread flecked with herbs, is an almost identical version to the bread served at the popular restaurant Ramano's Macoroni Grill. I came across the recipe after becoming addicted to their bread and craving it constantly (thanks to Google search and Cafe Michele). It's a great bread to tear and dip in flavored olive oils and to serve with your best Italian pasta dishes, or soups.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 55 mins
• Prep Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 2-4

Yield: 1.0 loaf

• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons rosemary
• 1 tablespoon yeast
• additional rosemary (to garnish)
• salt (to garnish)

Directions:

1. Place ingredients, according to manufacturer's directions into your bread machine.
2. (some call for all liquids, or all dry ingredients first, so know your machine) Set machine to "dough cycle" and wait. (This takes most machines about an hour and a half for a full cycle).
3. Remove from machine when cycle is complete and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
4. Shape dough by hand, into a rectangular mound, spreading kind of thin, maybe an inch or two of thickness.
5. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size. (This is a good time to go ahead and turn the oven on to preheat and help warm the kitchen).
6. Brush with a little olive oil, sprinkle with rosemary and salt if desired. (This is the way its done at Macaroni Grill).
7. Bake at 375°F for 20-25 minutes until crust is golden and crispy. Bread is meant to be a flatter shape and not a high rising bread.
8. Have everyone tear their pieces of bread with their hands,and serve with olive oil flavored with fresh ground pepper.

Reviews

[Chris from Kansas]

This tastes just like the bread at Macaroni Grill. The rosemary flavor was wonderful. I am so happy to find this recipe. I reduced the olive oil in the bread to one tablespoon and only used 1 teaspoon of salt. After brushing the risen loaf with olive oil, I sprinked on garlic salt and basil. It turned out perfect. Thanks for posting!

[najwa]

This is a really good bread recipe .. I did cut the amount of salt in half to allow the bread to rise higher .. thanks

[peppermintkitty]

Ok, I remade this bread, cutting the salt to 1 1/2tsp, and the rosemary to 1/2 T. It turned out perfectly...just like was posted,,crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. This is the kind of bread I was looking for. We just don't care for a strong rosemary taste, and the salt amount was too much for us. After re-making it and reducing these 2 ingredients, it's a wonderful bread I will make many more times! Thankyou for posting!