Friday Firsts - Garlic Herb Dough

Happy Friday! I cannot believe it is Friday already, this week definitely snuck up on me. I was actually scrambling to get my own "first" in on time. It was just one of those days where everything I touched turned into a disaster, but for some reason or another I decided to bake!

My first for this week is a Garlic Herb Dough I had never made before. I'm going to share the recipe with you because the taste itself is a winner, my execution was not. I need to be in the right mindset and devote the proper amount of time to it next go-around, but it was delicious and definitely a keeper!

The original recipe was an old one from Taste of Home. I doubled it and tweaked it (my version listed below).

2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/4 cup flour
3 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ea. garlic powder, dried oregano, dried basil
3 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced

In a medium mixing bowl dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water and let stand for about 5 minutes. Next add in the flour, oil, and salt, kneading until smooth and elastic. (I worked mine for 2 or 3 minutes by hand.) Oil a large bowl and turn the dough ball to coat evenly. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

(*Tip* I saw this on somebody's blog a really long time ago and use it now myself. Close the drain in your kitchen sink and run warm water until about 2 inches deep. Store the bowl in this warm, moist environment to help the rising process.)

Punch the dough down, mix the additional ingredients in, and divide for use. You could do individual dinner rolls, larger hoagie rolls, one big loaf, or even pizza dough at this point. Cover and let rise an additional 30 minutes.

Bake the finished dough in a 425° oven, time dependent on what you decided to make. For dinner rolls bake about 10 minutes, but for hoagie sized rolls (which I made) bake about 15 minutes. The top will be golden brown and a tap on the top of the bread will sound hollow. Should yield 12 small dinner rolls or 4 medium hoagie rolls.

Mine was actually darker than I intended because I let it bake for about 18 minutes! (Oopsies!) but it still tasted delicious. There was a lot of flavor in this dough from the olive oil, herbs, and fresh garlic. It tasted like a wholesome, healthy (non HFCS) version of Subway's Italian herb and cheese loaf.

Now it's your turn to tell me about your first! To participate in Friday Firsts create a blog post featuring a "first" of yours. It could be the first time you've eaten at a new restaurant or the first time you tried a new fruit! Any culinary first will do! Next, link that blog post below and tell us about it! If you don't have a blog or a specific post to link to please tell us about your first in the comment section! Any and all participation is welcome!



Thank you guys so much for helping me spread the word each week! If you would like to display the Friday Firsts button as a badge in your post or on your side bar, you can copy and paste the following code:

<a href="http://www.dinneratchristinas.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://glc.dinneratchristinas.com/i/fridayfirsts.png" alt="Friday Firsts / DinnerAtChristinas.com" style="width: 220px; height: 220px; border: none"/></a>

Also, in case you missed my post or tweets, I am the Blogger Secret Ingredient (BSI) host for this week! You have until Sunday, April 11th at midnight to turn in your recipes featuring the secret ingredient! Please click here to read which ingredient I chose, information on rules, how to enter, and what the fantastic prize is!