Tiny herb spiral bread

 

They get you hooked young, and then you’ve got a lifetime habit. At least if you were in 4-H many moons ago where they distributed their alluring wares, pushing use of their product through glossy promotional materials distributed free to susceptible – and hungry – young minds.

I see you can now buy one of those Fleischmann’s yeast promotional cookbooks for $20 on Etsy, labeled as vintage. (Perhaps I’ll start referring to myself as vintage.) That one looks in much better shape than my well-used version with the cover in tatters.

This booklet is the source of many go-to recipes that date to the time when I was still a teenager astounding my parents with their luck as they stuffed their mouths with caraway rye rolls, the second yeast bread product I’d made in a day. I guess there were worse obsessions to have at that age than to produce excellent carriers for butter.

Despite the fact that I’ve owned this booklet for many years and made tons of tasty treats, somehow I had always meant to get around to this recipe and hadn’t. With a patio filled with herbs that I just had to bring inside for the season, this seemed as good a time as any to try it.

It called for just chives and parsley, but that might be because few cooks had access to a variety of fresh herbs when this book first came out. At any rate, I made it with half of the herbs being a mix of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, so thus, Simon and Garfunkel bread. (Yes, I am vintage, but it was a good year.)

Tiny herb loaves
Adapted from “Fleishmann’s Bake-it-easy Yeast Book.”
Note: If your kitchen doesn’t have a naturally warm place (a “cold” gas oven with just the pilot light on is perfect), turn on your electric oven to the lowest setting before you start assembling the dough and turn it off the minute it comes up to temperature. By the time you get the dough assembled it will have cooled down to warm instead of hot. Another trick: Heat water to boiling in a microwave right before you put the bowl of rising dough in. It will cool down, of course, but the initial warmth gets the dough off to the good start it needs and it’s a draft-free location. Otherwise, add more time to each estimated rising time to make up for the fact that it’s going to take longer.

Ingredients
½ cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons butter, divided
1½ cups warm water (105 to 115, it should pass the baby bottle test on your wrist)
A scant tablespoon active dry yeast (1 package for those who don’t buy in bulk)
5½ to 6½ cups flour
1 cup chopped  fresh chives
1 cup chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme or whatever suits your fancy

Method
Scald milk. Stir in sugar, salt and 3 tablespoons butter. Cool to lukewarm.

Pour the warm water into a large bowl. Sprinkle in yeast and stir to dissolve. Let sit while the milk mixture cools.

Add lukewarm milk mixture and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough additional flour a half cup at a time until it’s formed a stiff dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Place dough in a greased bowl, cover loosely and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk, about an hour. Punch dough down, cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop up herbs and melt remaining 3 tablespoons of butter.

Divide dough into 6 parts. Roll each part on a lightly floured board into an 8- by 12-inch rectangle. Brush with butter and sprinkle with about ⅓ cup herbs. Roll up tightly to form 12-inch loaves, pinching ends to seal. Place on a greased half sheet pan or two smaller pans if you don’t have one or can’t fit a half sheet in your oven. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover loaves loosely and place in a warm place to rise until doubled, about an hour.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until done.

Rating: These are fun. Good carriers for butter (what yeast bread isn’t?) and they look nice on a cheese board array.I could see adding garlic and/or grated Parmesan if you wanted something more savory, but they don't really require it.

Make ahead? I initially baked off 5 of the shaped 6 dough rolls, putting one in the freezer before it had risen, testing to see if that was a viable make-ahead option. I would label it as not a success; that mini loaf is now destined to be a tasty addition to a future strata. But freezing some of the baked loaves, thawing them at room temperature and then popping them in the oven briefly to warm them before serving worked perfectly fine.