Roasted Garlic Bread

This is an easy and impressive bread to bring to your next dinner party.
-Amanda

Roasted Garlic Bread

Roasted Garlic:
1 head of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 piece of foil about 6 in square

Dough:
1 package or 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/4 cup of warm water
3 cups bread flour (or all purpose)
2 tsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
cornmeal for dusting

To roast the garlic, peel all the garlic cloves and cut them in half. Place them in the middle of foil. Cup the foil up and drizzle salt and olive oil over the garlic. Close the garlic in the foil and put in the oven at 250 for an hour. I use my toaster oven and I also place the garlic in a small oven proof bowl because somehow the oil always leaks out.

Dough: Combine yeast, water and honey. Let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast gets really bubbly. In your stand mixer, using a dough hook, put the flour, oil and salt in the bowl. Add yeast mixture. Knead in the machine for about 8 minutes. Dough should be smooth and satiny. Add more flour a tiny bit at a time if needed. Sometimes I like to finish the kneading off by hand, slightly dusting my hands and counter top. Form the dough into a ball. In a clean oiled bowl, place the dough ball in and spray or rub oil ontop of it. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. After one hour, punch down the dough. Sprinkle cornmeal on a cookie sheet (I used a stone baking pan) and then form dough into a rectangle that is about 4 inches across and 8 inches long. The dough will double in size, so keep that in mind. (Alternately you could make two smaller loaves.) With a sharp knife make small slits throughout the top of the dough and insert one garlic clove in each slit. Drizzle the olive oil that was baking with the garlic over the dough. Cover dough with lent free towel and let rise for another hour. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve warm!