Artichoke & Roasted Garlic Bread

Artichoke and roasted garlic bread!!!

I just had to repeat that. In case it didn’t sink in when you read the title.

Before Preston and I went to Monterey last month, we had dinner with some friends (the awesome friends who made homemade vegan ravioli for dinner!) When they heard we were going to Monterey, they said we HAD to go to Pescadero to go to this little market and buy some artichoke bread.

Artichoke. Bread.

Ummmm…. yes, please.

Unfortunately, Pescadero just wasn’t in the cards for this trip. That’s fine, I’ll go. Don’t you worry, I WILL go. But until that day comes, I’ve got to find another way to enjoy artichoke bread.

So obviously I had to make it. Obviously.

I was already plotting how to make this fantastic bread when a coworker brought two delicious loaves of bread into work, and I died over how fantastic they were! She told me the recipe was crazy easy, she makes it ALL the time, both as bread and as pizza crust! SOLD.

So I whipped up a batch, turned half of it into this fantastic bread, and experimented with the other half for pizza dough (which turned out fantastic, but my attempt at a vegan alfredo sauce on top did NOT bake well, so I have to keep trying before I post that one…)

the base recipe for two loaves of phenomal, super easy bread:
serves 12
6 1/2 C all purpose flour
3 C lukewarm water
1 1/2 T yeast (or 2 packets)
1 1/2 T kosher salt
2 t sugar (optional)

this recipe’s add-ins:
1 head roasted garlic
1 15-oz can artichoke hearts packed in water, chopped

Mix together water, yeast, and sugar (I added the sugar because I’ve noticed my favorite bread recipes tend to include a teeny sugar in this first step. My coworker’s bread was unbelievable without it, so no worries.) Allow to sit for about 5 minutes until the yeast has proofed — you’ll know when it has, it changes completely. Then mix in the flour and salt just until combined. It’s way more important to not overmix than it is to make sure everything is perfectly mixed together. Cover the bowl with your dough in it and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Here’s the truly awesome part: my coworker says you can let the dough sit like this for 4-5 days. DAYS. Mix the dough up when it’s convenient and bake it when you’re ready!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

I let half of it sit overnight, almost 24 full hours, and then I got it out, let it come to room temperature for 20 minutes, and mixed in the roasted garlic and artichoke hearts. I shaped it into a loaf on a cooking sprayed baking sheet and baked for 30 minutes.

It is golden brown, soft and airy inside, and unbelievably good! Huge garlic fans like myself could probably stand for a lot more roasted garlic in there, but it’s subtle and fantastic as it is.

I let the other half of the dough sit for two more full days before baking it into a pizza crust, and it still turned out phenomenally.