Olive Oil Bread

I simply love this recipe, it is one of the easiest recipes I know for baking bread. Today was a perfect day to prepare it and I figure I just had the perfect excuse, as I have a spicy balsamic bread dipper that one of our friends gave us for Christmas and it has been sitting in my counter for a couple of months! So I figure today I wanted to try it, and I needed a delicious home made bread to make the whole experience so much better!

Olive Oil & Herbes de Provence Bread

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon sugar
1 envelope yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups flour, more if needed
1 tablespoon herbes de provence or whatever herbes you happen to like.

Directions:

Stir the sugar and yeast into the water, and set aside for 10 minutes to dissolve. Put the olive oil and salt in a large mixing bowl, and add the yeast mixture. Beat in 1-1/2 cups/285 g of the flour, until smooth, along with the herbs. Now work in the remaining cup/125 g flour, turning it onto the counter top to knead, until you have a smooth dough, 10 to 15 minutes. Cover with a tea towel and set in a warm place to rise to double, about 45 minutes.

Punch the dough down and shape into a loaf. Let rise again 30 minutes, and bake at 400ºF for 25 minutes until done. Let the bread cool a little before slicing to serve.