I was recently blessed with A LOT of fresh dill as part of my weekly CSA pickup. I know most of the rest of the country is buried in (or melting out of) snow. I know, a fresh herb seems out of the question for you all. I guess this is one of the good sides of Tucson. Talk to me in June or July…I’m sure we’ll be able to find something for you to hold over my head…
Anyway, my dear friend Kim makes a fabulous dill bread that is yeasted, but has a very wet dough, so it’s really kind of like a quick bread. I wanted to try and create the same delicious dill flavor, but in a straight-dough yeasted loaf. I started with this recipe from King Arthur Flour (one of our standard favorite loaves) and changed things around quite a bit.In the end I was VERY satisfied with the result. So were Dylan and Kim 🙂
Yeasted Dill Bread
Sponge
- 1 c lukewarm water (8 oz)
- 1/2 t instant yeast
- 1 1/4 c bread flour
- 1/4 c white whole wheat flour
Dough
- all of sponge
- 1 c fresh dill, chopped (~2 oz)
- 8 oz plain yogurt
- 1 1/2 t salt
- 1/2 t instant yeast
- 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 c bread flour
- 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 c white whole wheat flour
Mix together the sponge ingredients and let sit covered, at room temperature for 3 to 12 hours. The longer you let it sit, the more interesting and complex the flavor of your loaf will be, but you can definitely do a short fermentation and still have a yummy loaf.
Once you are done fermenting, stir down the sponge and mix in the dill, water, yeast, salt and flours. You’ll probably do best if you add the flour in 1/2 c increments. You’re shooting for half bread, half white whole wheat flour, so keep that in mind when you are adding in flour.
Knead for 5 minutes (at speed 2 in a stand mixer). Let the dough and gluten rest for 10 minutes and then knead 5 more minutes.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise 1 hr, or until doubled in size.
Deflate the dough and shape into whatever form you’d like. I’m a fan of free-form round loaves (often called Boules) because they are really easy. For the batch I photographed here I actually made 2 Boules.
Let the shaped loaf (or loaves) rise again for 45 to 90 minutes. I usually check after 45 because it’s always pretty warm in Tucson. Be sure to start preheating your oven to 475° about half-way through your expected rise time!
About 10 minutes before you’re ready to bake fill a shallow dish (Pyrex baking dishes work great) with about 1 inch of water. Set on the very bottom rack in the oven.
When your dough is ready to bake, turn the temperature in the oven down to 425° and insert the loaves. If you have a baking stone, I reccomend using that. Set the loaves on an upside down baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes. CAREFULLY remove the pan of water. Continue to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until a tap sounds hollow.
Remove and cool on a wire rack for (if you can) at least 2 hours.
One more thing…I’m submitting this bread for this week’s YeastSpotting over on Susan’s Wild Yeast Blog.
Tags: Baking, bread, Breads, cooking, dill, dough, flour, food, loaf, savory
December 31, 2008 at 7:04 pm
ooo, that looks so yummy! i love breads with crispy crusts and soft airy insides. dill just makes it that much better!
December 31, 2008 at 11:13 pm
That would be awesome with cream cheese and lox or smoked salmon.
January 1, 2009 at 6:33 am
That looks good! I bet it smelled amazing while baking.
January 1, 2009 at 9:36 am
Fresh herbs and herb bread in December — awesome! I can see why you were satisfied, the slices look so airy and delicious.
January 1, 2009 at 11:41 am
this does look fantastic!! luckily my rosemary plants are handling winter pretty well… maybe I’ll whip up a batch of rosemary bread this weekend 🙂
January 1, 2009 at 12:44 pm
That looks amazing! I adore dill. Imagine what kind of lovely cucumber sandwiches you could make with this!
January 1, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I love fresh baked bread, probably because I was a PROFESSIONAL PASTRY Chef in Clearwater, Florida (I had to leave because of some legal problems – and move to Atlanta).
But of course since I am a Italian (my mother Aida was fresh out of Ellis island), I sometimes lean towards making italian bread without dill.
If my boyfriend ‘BigBear’ (David Wyers) ever comes back home, I may try making this bread for him.
January 1, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Nice looking herby and holey crumb! That would pair really well with some good cheese, mmm.
January 2, 2009 at 2:11 am
Looks cool with the strips of green in the dough… I don’t think I’ve ever had dill in bread before.
January 2, 2009 at 7:43 am
[…] Fresh Dill Bread […]
January 2, 2009 at 8:24 am
I’ve made dill quick bread but never a dilled yeast bread. I’ll bet this would be great with meatballs. I love the crumb!
January 2, 2009 at 4:08 pm
This looks great! I will have to give it a try come spring, when I have tons of fresh dill.
January 3, 2009 at 9:10 am
Oh yummmmmm! I love dill! I wonder how it would be with some chopped shallots thrown into the dough?
January 3, 2009 at 11:23 am
[…] at Scraping the Skillet posted an awesome looking fresh dill bread. I love dill, I love the flavor of it in everything […]
January 3, 2009 at 3:50 pm
MMMM, i love dill! This sounds so tastyyyyyy
February 7, 2009 at 9:18 pm
This is a beauty! I love the dill peeking through the crust.
May 9, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Whoa! I made this bread with young green onions and soy yogurt (I’m vegan), and it came out beautifully! It didn’t rise as much, I think, and I may increase the amount of yeast next time, but otherwise–perfect.
Although I’ve been baking my own bread for a year or so, for some reason I’ve never made it this way, with the sponge. I’m definitely making this again, and with dill if I can. Thank you for the recipe.
May 8, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Grate taste!:DDD
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May 5, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Q: What kind of dough do they use to make dill bread?
A: Dill dough!
September 16, 2011 at 11:55 am
The dough ingredients lists yogurt but the instructions do not specify when to add it. Also, you instruct to add water a second time when mixing the sponge with the dough ingredients but you do not specify how much water in the ingredient list.
September 28, 2011 at 5:52 am
i join Kathy with her question, when should i put the yogurt?? is it instead of the water in the instructions ?
July 2, 2013 at 8:22 am
what is the answer to the amount of water to add in the second part of the recipe