Acme's Rosemary Slabs

I am finally in New York! I must say that although I've only been back a couple of days, I've been thoroughly enjoying my time with my parents, sisters, and especially nieces. Hopefully I'll be able to start some serious baking sometime soon, probably next week when I get back from watching my nieces for the week. Since I've missed posting though, I bring to you a bread that I made the same day as the sweet rolls but have held off on telling you about. This recipe is from Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking and though it is labeled beginner, I am very proud of it and how it turned out. I neglected to take pictures of the crumb, as my friends and I were gobbling it so fast to eat with our vegetable soup. But I have never seen such beautiful and lovingly created holes in any bread I have yet baked. I was very proud. I'm also very surprised how well the technique of folding actually works. Just a few business letter-like folds to strengthen the dough's gluten does wonders for its consistency. I had read about it before but had never until now used it myself. The flavor was great as well, considering I used dried rosemary, but it did the job fairly well. My flatbreads don't quite look like the picture in the book, as my very unprofessional oven does nothing for crust formation, but they were brilliant, nonetheless. At least that's what my friends had to say. This recipe made two flatbreads; my friends and I enjoyed one and I stashed the other in the freezer for later use. It freezes well, and reheats like a dream, too.

Here is the poolish, all bubbly and risen.

The dough ingredients mixed together.

The dough, ready to rise.
The dough, after its first of three folds.
The dough, after its final fold.


Rounded and resting. Shaped and ready for docking.

Ready for the oven.

Golden brown and delicious! Check out other breads in this weeks Yeastspotting.