Romano's Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

Today is my 6th wedding anniversary with Chris. In some years we exchange gifts and others we don't. This year, we went the gift route and I got to open up a shiny new 12-cup Kitchen Aid food processor which is something I've had my eye on for a LONG time. I've got a mini food processor which works great for grating parmesan cheese (but I really prefer using a microplane anyway), but always find myself ruling out some recipes because they call for a larger food processor. I'm excited to try out more bread recipes, bigger batches of hummus, perfectly slicing potatoes for scalloped potatoes, and whipping up our favorite salsa in the processor instead of the blender.

To celebrate our anniversary, we went to the Tornado Steakhouse in downtown Madison. This was the first time we've eaten there, and we had a few drinks, so of course we were ooing and awing over pretty much everything and this included the bread plate that arrived before our salads. One of the breads was a yummy rosemary bread, so I decided that I had to take my new food processor for a test drive by whipping up a batch of rosemary bread myself. Also puts good use to the mound of rosemary growing in the garden right now.

I found this recipe by googling "rosemary bread food processor" and honestly hadn't even thought about looking for a recipe for the Macaroni Grill bread...I haven't eaten there in years! But, when I saw the recipe in the search results I remembered how good the bread was, and seeing the great reviews I decided to give it a try. The recipe came together easily and if I made it again, I'd go ahead and use all 2.5 cups of flour right away since the dough was very sticky with 2 cups. And, I'd add all the rosemary to the dough rather than saving a tablespoon for the tops. Other than that, it's a great recipe that yields two tender loaves of bread. Perfect for eating one and saving another!

Here's the recipe on food.com: Romano's Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread Recipe
I've modified it below just slightly to reflect the changes I'd make.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons melted butter, separated (1 Tbs for the bread dough, 1 Tbs for brushing the tops of the loaves after baking)
• Kosher salt for finishing

Directions

1. Place yeast, sugar and water in large bowl or food processor and allow mixture to become bubbly, about 5 minutes. Mix in 1 T butter, salt, and flour. Add one tablespoon of the fresh chopped rosemary. Knead for about 10 minutes by hand or in food processor about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. (dough will still be fairly tacky with 2.5 cups, and that is okay)
2. Oil a bowl, put dough in it and cover with a towel. Let dough rise in a warm place for one hour or until doubled. Punch down dough and divide in half. Let dough rest about 5 minutes.
3. Spray baking pan with cooking spray. Shape the dough into 2 small, round loaves. Let loaves rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter. Carefully remove bread from oven, brush with melted butter and a few hearty pinches of kosher salt.