As you can see, not long has passed since I’ve started my journey from someone who daily makes bread with the help of her bread maker to someone who also knows how to make all kinds of bread recipes by hand.
I still use my bread machine, I don’t plan on making bread by hand daily.
Just that once every few days it’s nice to eat something different.
Since it’s still the beginning, I continue to experiment with the things that I love when cooking.
That means olive oil, herbs, seeds, olives, and cheese.
Thus, my recipe for the day is mini breads with oregano, basil, and Parmesan cheese.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup water
- 3 cups white flour
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt or more for a saltier flavor
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons dried basil
- and grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Directions:
1. Start by adding all the basic ingredients needed for making the dough in a bread maker’s pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer, select the Dough cycle, and let the machine knead the dough a little.
Obviously, you can do all this by hand.
Once the knead phase is done, you can remove the dough from the pan.
You’ll let it rise after you’ve shaped it into tiny balls of dough.
2. Cut the dough in 4 or more pieces, depending on how tiny you like your mini breads to be
Take into consideration that the dough has to rise until it has doubled in size.
3. Shape it into rounded balls, place the buns of dough in the pan, cover them with a cloth, and let them rise until they doubled in size at room temperature or in a warm environment.
That usually means for about 2 hours.
4. Now that those 2 long hours have passed, score the dough with a knife.
5. Add the dried oregano and basil and the Parmesan cheese on top. If you don’t have Parmesan cheese, just skip it, although it offers a delicious flavor and creaminess, it’s really good.
That mix of oregano, basil and Parmesan cheese can also be incorporated in the dough if you want.
6. Let your mini breads to bake in the oven for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit or until golden brown and that’s it, enjoy those absolutely amazing flavors.
Making the dough by hand
As I’ve already said, I still rely on my machine to knead the dough, it’s simple.
But you can make everything from scratch.
This is how you make the dough by hand, without needing a bread maker:
- let the yeast dissolve in the warm water for 10 minutes
- take a large bowl and add the flour, salt, sugar, and olive oil (skip adding olive oil if you don’t have a bottle in your house), mix them a bit
- pour the yeast mixture
- start kneading the ingredients for 10 minutes or even more if you are enjoying using your hands to give those ingredients such a beautiful shape
Slice the dough in 4 pieces or more.
I chose the number 4 because they fitted well into the baking pan.
But you can definitely make the mini breads with oregano, basil, and Parmesan cheese even smaller.
You can slice the dough in 6 or even 8 parts.
Shape the pieces into round balls and place them in the pan.
They’ll double in shape after they have risen for 2 hours.
Once that’s done, score the dough, and add the magic ingredients that transform this recipe into something delicious: first the dry oregano and basil and then the grated Parmesan cheese.
I love Parmesan cheese and that’s why I added plenty when it came to making my focaccia bread recipe, too.
As you can easily see, the pan got a bit crowded so the mini breads got a lot closer after the dough has risen but they’re easy to break apart after baking so, don’t worry if the same thing happens to you.
Final Result
This is what you get after those mini rolls of dough with oregano, basil, and Parmesan on top have been baking for about 30 minutes. Don’t forget to preheat your oven.
Actually, right after finishing my mini breads with oregano, basil, and Parmesan cheese recipe I thought that it would have been interesting if I have added the oregano, basil, and Parmesan into the dough, as well.
Not just on top.
It was too late for that but let me know if you make this recipe that way.
