Garlic bread
===============

500 g all-purpose flour (not self-rising!)
1 package active dried yeast
  (replace by 20 g of yeast cake where available)
1 teaspoon salt
250 - 300 ml warm water

4 cloves of fresh garlic

olive oil
salt
dried oregano


1) Mix flour, dried yeast, salt. Slowly add water and mix until
dough starts forming. Knead to obtain an elastic dough, using as
much water as needed. (I found that the dough should be
relatively "wet" in order to rise properly, wetter than back
home.) Let rest to rise.

2) Chop the garlic, add to the dough, knead again. Use olive oil
to grease a rectangular pan, and sprinkle bottom and sides of
the pan with salt. Fill dough into pan and let rise once more.

3) Score the surface with a couple of slashes. Sprinkle with
olive oil, salt and oregano. (I usually soak the oregano in the
oil in order to prevent scorching.) Bake for 20 minutes at 480
F. Serve warm if possible.


Standard variants
====================

For a "neutral" bread, omit garlic, oregano, the additional salt
for pan and surface as well as the oil on the surface. The olive
oil for the pan can be replaced by butter or sunflower oil or
other shortening.

For a dinner bread, use 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of salt in the
dough and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the dough.

_____________________________________________________________________________

I bought one of these machines which do the job for you. You pour
water into the pan, add the flour, and then all other ingredients, press a
few buttons, and the next morning you have a freshly baked bread. Cubic,
and with a hole in the bottom because the dough hook stays in the dough
during the actual baking. It's a bit ugly. So, when I want it to be
nice, or when I do a bread with herbs or seeds sprinkled on the top I use
the machine only to prepare the dough and bake the bread in the oven
afterwards. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

Barbara G