Rosemary EVOO White Wine & Walnut Bread/Muffins

I’ve been blessed to have met so many incredible and irresistible foodies on Facebook since launching Ally’s Kitchen.  Foodies are a passionate bunch who love to share with other fiidues and who get super excited over little things like creating a new recipe from something they’ve found elsewhere. Such is the case with my sweet foodie friend Tonya Rounds Weinbach who by training is an interior designer, and it’s obvious that she incorporates her talents from that area into her cooking and food!  I’m honored to be able to post here at Ally’s Kitchen some of Tonya’s food creations!  So here’s what she says about this recipe… 

This is my own take of a recipe I found in Real Simple magazine called Rosemary-Olive Oil Bread. I’ve been making it for a couple of years, but always thought it could be improved. There wasn’t enough rosemary flavor for my liking and it always seemed to come out slightly dry no matter how soon I removed it from the oven. So with few a tweaks, I came up with my own version. I increased the amount of rosemary using fresh instead of dried, used rosemary infused EVOO and increased the walnuts as well as toasting them (pistachios are good in this too). I also changed the mixing method. This is now one of my all time favorite bread recipes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonya’s tips:

Because this bread is not as moist as a sweeter “dessert” bread, it’s best eaten within one to two days of making it. Personaly, I love eating it about an hour or two after baking while it’s still slightly warm. This can also be made as muffins (see bottom of recipe).

For years my standard “go to” all-purpose flour has been King Author unbleached flour. I decided to try making this bread with Pillsbury unbleached flour because of its lower protein content to see if that would fix the slight dryness this bread had. It may have been my imagination, but it sure seemed to work!

Feel free to use whatever white wine you like. I’ve always made this using a Riesling because of its sweetness, but decided to switch to Pinto Grigio since that’s the white wine I prefer to drink. I’m glad I did because it ended up giving the bread a better flavor and still kept it mildly sweet.

 

 

 

 

 

Makes 1 loaf or 12 muffins

Ingredients:

· 12 ½ ounces unbleached all-purpose flour (approx. 2 ½ cups) Note: Pillsbury or Gold Metal flour works really well in this bread

· 2 teaspoons baking powder

· ¼ teaspoon salt

· ¾ cup sugar

· ¾ cup sweet white wine (I prefer Pinot Grigio)

· ½ cup rosemary infused extra virgin olive oil (regular EVOO is fine too)

· 2 large eggs at room temperature, lightly beaten

· ¼ cup chopped fresh rosemary

· 1 tablespoon lemon zest

· ¾ cup chopped walnuts or pistachios, toasted (toast in small non-stick skillet over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until fragrant)

 

 

 

Directions:

Adjust rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat 8 ½ x 4 ½ loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray (if you use a larger loaf pan like 9×5, be sure to reduce the cooking time by several minutes). Or you can use a 12 cup muffin pan.

In large bowl whisk flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In medium bowl whisk sugar, wine, oil, eggs, rosemary and lemon zest. Stir wet ingredients into dry until just combined. Do not over mix. Gently fold in nuts.

For loaf: Spread batter into pan and smooth surface. Bake about 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove from pan and cool on wire rack for 1 hour before slicing.

For muffins: With an ice cream scoop (if you have one) divide batter evenly among the 12 cups. Take one tablespoon of sugar and sprinkle evenly over the batter (1 tbsp should be enough for all 12) and bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean (muffins will look a little pale). Change oven to the broiler setting and broil for about 1 minute or until the tops are golden brown. Watch this part closely! Cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove from pan and cool on wire rack about 20 minutes. The muffins are best eaten on the same day they are made.