Tried something new this week. A Caraway Seed and Light-Rye Boule. It turned out pretty good. I love the peppery slightly anise taste of the caraway fruit and it really spiced up this rye bread.
To even add that extra something I am experimenting with adding a little flavour infused olive oil to the dough. I wanted it to be subtle so I just used a little on my hands when mixing or folding the dough. With this bread I found a really nice Australian Bush Herbs infused olive oil to use. It has a wonderful smell of lemon myrtle and wattle seeds and just smelt like the bush. It certainly added more depth to the flavour of the bread.
My wife loved it so much she was cranky when I asked her to stop making her sandwich and "step away from the bread!" to let me take a crumb shot for the blog.
I'm now on the hunt for other infused oils to flavour the bread. Wonder if truffle oil would be too strong? Or maybe using fresh herbs to flavour infuse my own oils. There are lots of possibilities.
Has anyone else tried this? I think it could add to the bread as long as you didn't go overboard.
the search for greatness continues...
Replies
Have not tried it in baking but can imagine how good it would taste. A favorite bakery here in SF, Arizmendi's uses a lot of infused oils - basil comes to mind, and I love the results
Yes, I think caraway is lovely with rye too.
Your infused oil bread seems to have a more than subtle fragrance than I would have thought. What a great idea! I'm jealous of all that delicious oil available in your neck of the woods. Guess I'll have to make them myself.
TP
I just made a bread with olive oil infused with lemon and garlic. I used 2% of this oil in my dough. The bread has a very slight citrus flavot to it. I have five or six different kinds of these oils from a local olive oil producer so I will try them all out. People in the USA that are interested in their products can visit their website. http://www.mtoliveco.com/farm/
I feel so deprived.
Sounds delish, LD.
It's not that hard to make your own flavour infused oil TP. I have been thinking about trying to make some myself. I have been checking out some sites that describe how to do it. It seems you just need to be careful to avoid contamination if you are using fresh herbs.
Dried herbs and spices might be the way to go as they are easier to source and can be stored longer.
Here are some links if you are interested
http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f83/infusing-olive-oil-with-other-f...
http://www.top-tour-of-spain.com/how-to-flavor-olive-oil.html
http://www.atasteofthebush.com.au/default.asp
Hmmm.. I love the flavour of fennel so I might try that one first
I wish the smilies were working. *Insert flashing grin*
TP