Parmigiana Rosemary Bread

   "You sing with your soul, you make love with your soul, you must have to cook with your soul"

  
   I promised myself that on this blog that I would put both my successes and failures when it come to cooking. I was certain that this was going to be a failure and before I even got close to finishing this one I remembered that promise and knew either way it would be published.
   This one was a going to be a little difficult for me because I have never made bread in my life and did not even know where to start. I found this recipe and improvised from foodnetwork.com. You have to give yourself almost a whole 24 hours for this recipe. Anyway, I decided to make this bread last night and pretty much just finished it. When I say finished it I mean I pull it out of the oven and hour ago and it is basically gone. Matthew, Alexis, and I were in total carbohydrate heaven. All in all, I have to say this is the biggest cooking accomplishment that I have had and I am so completely proud of this single, fragrant, golden, crusty, amazing loaf of bread. Make this so that you can understand the soul I have put into this bread and hopefully you can be proud of it  and share with your family too.

What You Need:

• 1 pound bread flour, plus extra for shaping
• 1 teaspoon instant rapid rise yeast
• 10 ounces bottled or filtered water
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 quarts hot water
• Vegetable oil, for greasing the rising container
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• some rosemary
• some grated parmigiana

How to Make It:

1. Combine 5 ounces of the flour, 1/4 teaspoon of the yeast, all of the honey, and all of the bottled water in a straight-sided container; cover loosely and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours.
2. Place the remaining 11 ounces of flour, remaining yeast, and all the salt into the bowl of a stand mixer, and add the pre-ferment from the refrigerator. Using the dough hook attachment, knead the mixture on low for 2 to 3 minutes just until it comes together. I didn't have this so i just used a wooden spoon and mixed it by hand.
3. Cover the dough in the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, knead the dough on medium speed for 5 to 10 minutes or until you are able to gently pull the dough into a thin sheet that light will pass through. The dough will be sticky, but not so sticky that you can't handle it.
4. While the dough is kneading, pour half of the hot water into a shallow pan and place on the bottom rack of your oven.
5. Grease the inside of a large straight-sided container with the vegetable oil. Place the dough ball into the container and set on the rack above the pan of water. Allow to rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 to 2 hours.
6. Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it onto a counter top, lightly dust your hands with flour, and press the dough out with your knuckles; then fold 1 side in towards the middle of the mass and then the other, as if you were making a tri-fold wallet. Repeat the folding a second time. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for another 10 minutes.
7. Flatten dough again with your knuckles and then fold the dough in onto itself, like you are shaping something that looks like a jellyfish. Turn the dough over and squeeze the bottom together so that the top surface of the dough is smooth. Place the dough back onto the counter and begin to roll gently between your hands. Do not grab the dough but allow it to move gently back and forth between your hands, moving in a circular motion.
8.  Move the dough ball to a pizza peel or the bottom of a sheet pan that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal. Cover with the kitchen towel and allow to bench proof for 1 hour, or until you poke the dough and it quickly fills back in where you poked it..
9. Combine the 1/3 cup of water and the cornstarch in a small bowl. Uncover the dough and brush the surface with this mixture. Gently slash the top surface of the dough ball in several places, approximately 1/3 to 1/2-inch deep. This is when i added the rosemary and parmigiana to the top of my bread. 
10. Add more of the hot water to the shallow pan if it has evaporated. Slide the bread onto a sheet pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes. 
11. 5 minutes before the bread comes out of the oven, combine the butter and salt and paint it onto the crust of the bread.
12. Remove to a cooling rack and allow to sit for 30 minutes before slicing even thought we all know this is nearly impossible!