Fresh Garden Herb Bread

I finally bought a new sheet pan. I found this Nordic Ware Aluminum pan on Amazon and hoped the crazy price was worth the investment. Remember Mum is frugal and it was certainly more than the cost of Walmart's sheet pans. I bought the largest possible pan that would fit my oven. Go big or go home, as my friend Anita always says.

In school, we used this type of sheet pan. It is light, durable, and won't warp in the oven. You know that sound when the pan buckles and you cross your fingers it did not toss the food on it off and splatter it on to the oven walls? Well, this pan will not do that. I like the deeper sides as well. I am going to purchase a second one for myself for my birthday, and a smaller set of two. I want to make some Jule Logs for Christmas or maybe Halloween, and this would be the perfect pan to make that.

Now that I have been educated in the truth of good kitchen tools, I have had to invest in a lot of new things, who knew the price of my education would continue to mount when I finished paying for the course :). I will admit this pan is excellent and I immediately baptized it. First with roast tomatoes and now with these amazing herb hamburger buns. Next up I will make a loaf and see how that goes.

I had to change the recipe a bit but as you can see the buns turned out great. The recipe I was following sent me on a trip south and the dough began by turning into a batter, not dough, so here is the recipe I eventually manifested to save my buns.

Yield: 1 loaf or 6-10 buns

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons yeast
1 1/3 cup warm water
1/4 cup olive oil )
4 tablespoons fresh chopped herbs ( rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil )- I used 2 tablespoons which were not enough herbs.
1 1/2 teaspoon salt- next time I will add more
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper - I will not use that again it made no difference
4-5 cups flour - the recipe called for 3 1/2 no way that was enough

Proof the yeast in the warm water. Place the dry ingredients in stand mixer. Add the oil and yeast slowly to the flour mixture until it comes together. Adjust with more flour if necessary. Knead for 5-7 minutes. Take the risen dough out of the bowl and hand knead for a few minutes. Oil the bowl and the dough and let rise for 1 - 1 1/2 hours till doubled.

Remove the risen dough and press out the air. Weigh the dough and decided how big you want the buns based on the weight. Place on parchment lined the pan, and let rise till doubled ( 1 hour ) when risen use an egg wash for the tops of the buns and preheat the oven.

350* oven for 30-35 minutes or until they are brown and hollow sounding when you tap on them.

I am going to try to make round loaf from this today to see how that turns out. This time I will add the basil and make sure I use 4 tablespoons herbs.

~ Hugs from Mum
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