Tomato rye bread with rosemary and garlic

Once on the weekend my husband took me out for lunch. The place was beautiful so was the food. For the appetizer while we were waiting for our order a lovely waitress brought a bread basket with some butter. The bread looked unusual but was sooo good that I had to ask them what kind it was.
I was told it was tomato bread. Since then I was determined to made more at home.
After that I got another reason to make bread like that as I got beautiful fresh local tomatoes.

I as well had some cravings for rye bread so I was looking for a recipes that would include both of these ingredients. Although there is a huge variety of breads available, rye bread is not common in the area where I live now. For me it is a memory of my childhood. Rye bread was something we would eat with soups or some other hearty dish with, make a sandwich or just spread some butter and have a bite. And ohh it was so good to have a fresh crispy crust rubbed with some garlic. I love raw garlic and onion, oh yeah they are also good for you. (the only problem all this smell, but I make sure I don't go out or meet someone right after I eat it.)

After quite an extensive and thorough search I found the recipe that suited all my requirements. Tomato-rye bread with rosemary and garlic from allrecipes.com.

It may sound quite unusual (knowing the way I usually cook by recipes it does sound unusual to me) I followed the recipe exactly as it is without any changes. Well.... I did use a different kind of yeast which I added right into the flour mix and oh yeah, I used whey instead of water. Well I guess I did make some changes. But anyway I followed the process exactly as it is written there and the bread was amazing.
I loved it, my husband did to, even my little daughter chewed it with pleasure.

Another thing that I really liked it stays fresh for a couple of days after you actually make it. We couldn't eat the whole loaf at once and I kept it in a bag, so next morning and even the morning after when we were finishing it, the bread was still soft and so aromatic. I sliced the loaf and warmed it slightly to make it even yummier.

So you can go to the original recipe or here are the ingredients that I used:

1/2 cup crushed and strained tomatoes ( or just tomato juice)
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp whey (you can use water)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary (I took out some of it later as I had whole leaves, or just crush it finely and leave it)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
5 g instant yeast (add directly to the flour)
2/3 cup (80 g) rye flour
2 cups (280 g) strong bread flour (if not available use all-purpose flour)
1/3 cup (30 g) finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes (I took in oil but squeezed the oil slightly)

Preparation:

• Put first six ingredients in a small pot and bring to simmer. You can try the mixture (be careful it is hot) for the taste and if you feel rosemary is too overpowering discard some of it. Transfer to a mixing bowl and let it cool down.
• In the meanwhile mix both kinds of flour and yeast together. Gradually add the flour mixture to the tomato mixture and knead until dough comes together and is workable. It will be a bit sticky but quite thick. Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes and mix well for about a minute or so. I used my lovely food processor to do all this work. ahem. Leave for some time and then knead again for about 5 minutes.
• Lightly cover a big bowl with some olive oil and place your dough in turning once to coat with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel, put it in a warm place and let it rest and rise for an hour or until double in volume. It actually took my dough about 45 minutes to rise.
• Punch the dough down. (That's a great opportunity to let your negative emotions out in case you are angry or frustrated with something). You know there is a saying in Russia that dough is the only thing that benefits from punching. Lightly coat a 1 lb loaf pan (the size is about 23 cm x 11 cm) with oil. Place the dough in a tin pressing it to the corners, cover and leave for another hour or until doubled in volume. It should rise a bit above the top of the pan. I lightly covered the top of the bread with oil somewhere i the middle of its rising process, but be careful not to punch it down again.
• Preheat the oven to 190C. Bake until the loaf sounds hollow or for about 40 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool down. And here you are you own delicious fresh, crunchy on the outside and soft inside tomato rye bread. I won't say it is fluffy as rye flour is not that light, it has distinct flavor and taste but I love it.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

TIP:

To quickly freshen your breath after eating some smelly food like garlic or onions, try chewing a spring of fresh parsley. Apart from eliminating bad breath parsley is high in vitamin A, beta-carotene and vitamin C. 

To remove the scent of garlic from your hands, try rubbing them on your stainless steel sink for 30 seconds. If you don't have this kind of sink, you can actually buy a stainless steel bar of soap. Its purpose is to remove not only garlic smell but fish odors as well. And you know what? Somehow it does work.