Roasted Garlic Peppercorn Bread

Homemade bread is a staple in our house, most often a white/multigrain mix. Every once in a while though, I like to shake things up a bit and do something wild and crazy, like make roasted garlic peppercorn bread. I know, I’m such a party animal.

I’ve made garlic peppercorn bread with raw sliced garlic, but decided to try with roasted garlic this time. Both were equally yummy. But then again, garlic is one of my favorite foods, so it’s really hard to go wrong there.

Print Recipe

Roasted Garlic Peppercorn Bread

Servings: 4 loaves

Author: The Gourmet Housewife

Ingredients

• 5 cups warm water divided
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp generous traditional yeast
• 10 1/2 cups flour
• 4 tsp salt
• 8 cloves garlic if roasting, or 4 cloves, peeled and sliced (if using raw)
• 1/4 cup peppercorns crushed
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

• If roasting garlic, preheat oven to 400°F. Slice the tops off the garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Place in a lightly greased baking pan and cover with tinfoil, or use a garlic roaster. Roast in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until caramelized and soft. Remove from oven and squeeze bulbs out of skin. Set aside.
• Pour 3 cups of warm water into a medium-sized bowl. Dissolve sugar in water. Stir in yeast and let sit 10 minutes to activate.
• Meanwhile, mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add garlic and peppercorns and stir to combine. Make a well in the center. Pour in the remaining 2 cups of water, olive oil, honey, and finally your water/yeast mixture. Mix as best you can (you may have to switch to your hands at this point). Add a little flour as needed (don't add too much or your dough will be very dense). At this point, it's okay if the dough is a little sticky.
• Put your dough in a warm place to rise. It's very important that the temperature in the house remains consistent. Doors opening, for example, can drastically affect the rising power of your dough. I like to place my bowl in the oven, with only the oven light on. It provides enough warmth, and with the door closed, the dough is resistant to any temperature changes. Let dough rise 15 minutes.
• Punch down your dough. Here's a videoto help with this!
• Repeat rising and punching down 4 times. On the 5th rise, shape the dough into loaves. I usually divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Here's a videoto show you how to shape them into loaves:
• Once shaped into loaves, place them into lightly greased loaf pans. Cover them with a light towel and put them in a warm place to rise. Let the loaves rise 20 minutes. At this point, preheat your oven to 350°F.
• Place the loaves in the preheated oven, and bake for 30-40 minutes.