...finger lickin' good...

I might be putting too much pressure on myself to come up with wild and crazy feats to entertain you. Though I long for a life of excitement, I'm an introvert, and quiet time spent thinking and daydreaming is essential for my overall well being.

So, aided by my sore body (yesterday's post) and a brisk winter wind, I decided that my adventure should be to find one Pinterest pin to conquer. After quite some time spent searching through my boards, and making phone calls regarding needed materials, I saw it: the Macaroni Grill inspired rosemary bread. Reading through the recipe, I realized I had all the ingredients. This was the one.

If you've never had the rosemary bread at Macaroni Grill, I'm just so sorry for you. Andy and I love that bread! So warm and fragrant with just the right amount of melt in your mouth goodness. I set to work, pulling out the teeny tiny prep bowls for which I registered that had never been used, and filling them with yeast, sugar, flour, rosemary, butter, and salt. Then, I read and reread those directions until I felt ready to begin.

Baking scares me. Particularly baking with yeast. I've tried countless times in the past and have never had dough that would rise. Dense, inedible, chewy dough loaves were usually what I'd end up throwing away. Thanks to my friend, Laura Falls, who taught me how to bake a cheesecake this past December, I'm feeling a bit more confident in my abilities.

You should have seen me go! I googled things like “which number is the knead setting on my kitchen aid mixer?” and “what is the ratio of fresh herbs to dry herbs?” (I only checked because using ¾ of a jar of rosemary for two loaves of bread seemed excessive.) And it all came together. The yeasty sugar water bubbled, my trusty mixer tossed the ingredient to and fro until they began to look glued together like, umm, paste. Unsure as to what to do I dumped more and more flour into bowl to try to get it less sticky. It ended up being less sticky, but still sticky enough that a good portion of the dough remained cemented to my hands after scraping it into the well oiled bowl. Then, I rested said bowl, covered with a towel, atop the stove to rise.

While the dough was rising I cleaned the counters, swept the floors, wiped out the microwave and wiped down the cabinets, all while catching up on a TV show. Of course, as impatient as I am, I kept lifting up the towel to check if the little lump of dough had doubled...10 minutes...20 minutes...30 minutes...and suddenly it was filling up the bottom of the bowl and climbing up the sides. It was thrilling! But not nearly as wonderful as the wisps of baking bread that flooded the house with the fragrant scent of rosemary.

It was delicious and Andy said I did such a great job! Good thing because we gave the second loaf to our neighbors before trying it. I meant to take a picture, but I was so excited (and hungry) I forgot.

If you want the recipe, I've repinned it to my Pinterest page: An Adventure a Day.