A messy loaf packed full of garlic and herbs.

Simple, with a flavor reminiscent of those pizza-shop bread-sticks. Note that the measurements are pretty loose, as that’s what the recipe is; randomly put-together by feel.

Ingredients

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cups bread flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sourdough discard (straight from fridge)
• 1 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 tsp yeast
• 3 tbsp oil
• whatever herbs, finely chopped (basil, thyme, rosemary, garlic)

Steps

Mix the flours, yeast, and salt in a bowl.

Combine the water, sourdough discard, and yeast. Let sit for a few minutes and check for yeast activity.

Combine yeast liquid, flour, and oil. Mix and knead until smooth. If it’s too wet for your comfort, add more flour, but it’s supposed to be sticky/tacky.

Form into a ball and proof in an oiled bowl for ~1 hour or roughly doubled in size.

Punch down dough and separate into at least 2 portions. Roll out each portion into a rectangle. The size is fairly arbitrary, but a 5:3 ratio seemed to work.

Slather herbs and oil on dough rectangle, and fold lengthwise in thirds (to form three layers).

Stack the dough portions, and then form into whatever shape you want. I’ve tried Chinese steamed bun knots, to rough braids, to sliced-lengthwise-more-and-braid, to just a plain wet mess. Don’t worry, it all works out.

Put formed loaf on a sheet pan (or parchment), and rest for ~1 hour.

Concurrently, preheat oven to 400 F.

Bake loaf for ~20-minutes. Let rest until cool before slicing.

Notes

I had some leftover garlic aoli (aka garlic+oil+salt pounded emulsion) and it was wonderful to mix in with herbs, as well as brushed over the bread after it was removed from the oven.