I've been baking bread for quite a while now and wanted to share something for the #baking tag of the week.

Years ago when I was a kid we would go camping outside of Pescadero, CA, and everytime we would get artichoke bread when we were there. So I set out to make a recreation that turns out to be a killer loaf.

A bit of a disclaimer about the bread though: the original I was trying to emulate has a somewhat crumbly texture and modest crust. As per my preferences, I think of that as a bit of a downside, so I aimed to make a loaf that is more robust and crusty but with the same flavor.

So the ingredients are:

flour

yeast

roasted garlic salt

rosemary and garlic

1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts

So for the base dough I do my usual thing, which involves eyeballing everything and the stretch & fold method (further info at the bottom*). However, especially if you're new to bread, I'd just use the no-knead recipe here for the base dough.

Chop up about a half-tablespoon of garlic and rosemary and mix it into the dough. I also substituted the regular salt with roasted garlic herb salt which (full disclosure) my mom makes. And would you look at that, you can get it here.

Together with the artichoke hearts, that gives the right kind of herbal flavor to the bread.

At this point, you should not have added any oil or fat to the bread. You won't need to because all the oil on the artichokes will make the loaf pretty oily and decadent.

Prior to the final rising and shaping before the dough goes into the oven, stuff the artichoke hearts into the middle of the dough and shape it so they are concealed. Try to make sure the seam won't open itself because of all the oil the dough has picked up now. The artichoke hearts need to be completely enclosed and sealed.

The dough in now very oily. Toss it in a dutch oven preheated to 450, seam-side up. Put the lid on and let it go for an hour. Remove the lid halfway through cooking.

And voila!

*So the usual method I use for making dough is using stretching and folding. Take the wet dough and use a dough scraper to scoop it up and fold it over, again and again. Do this for a few minutes then cover it with a bowl for 20-30 minutes and repeat. After doing this 4 or 5 times the dough is ready for shaping.

Here's an album of loaves from last year including some shots of the dough during preparation.