As I wrote in my Rosemary Olive Bread post, the use of a clay baker is really wonderful when you bake round loaves of Italian style bread.

When I say Italian style bread, I mean the type of bread you can find in practically every bakery all over Italy. It has a fairly thick, chewy crust, and a pleasant coarse texture, full of small holes perfect for sopping up pasta sauce or soup broth.

And this onion dill bread is indeed perfect with soup. The dill, although prevalent, is not overwhelming. It just lends a richness to the bread, as does the dehydrated onion. And for just the best taste treat imaginable, slather a piece of warm out of the oven bread with room temperature butter. Bite into this culinary delight and you will be ever so glad you took the time to bake your own bread.

I served this bread a couple of months ago for one of our pre-concert JazzVox lunches. I was a little concerned because I had no idea if my guests would appreciate the dill flavor as much as I do. But why I even bothered to concern myself is now way beyond my comprehension. Ours guests finished off the entire loaf before either Mr. C or I had a taste! You’d have thought I was feeding a bunch of teenagers rather than the very sophisticated, well educated group of vocal jazz lovers who were in attendance that day! But when it comes to homemade bread, there are few who can resist. And my guests that day were no exception.

For more information about clay bakers (as I call them), please read the blog post referenced above. And if you love vocal jazz and live in the Puget Sound area, please visit www.jazzvox.com for more information about home concerts in your area.

• 2 c. warm water
• 1 pkg. or 2 ½ tsp. active dry yeast
• 2 ½ tsp. salt
• 3 T. dehydrated chopped onion
• 3 T. dill seed
• 5 T. gluten flour
• 5 c. bread flour
• vegetable oil

In the bowl of a heavy duty electric mixer, combine the warm water, yeast, and salt. Let sit for about 5 minutes. Add onion, dill seed, gluten flour, and 4 ½ cups of the bread flour. Knead dough on medium speed, adding more bread flour as necessary, until dough is smooth and soft, about 8-10 minutes. Pour a small amount of oil into the bottom of the bowl and using your hand coat the bread with the oil and round into a ball. Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down and let rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes. Remove dough from bowl. Stretch sides of dough down and under to form a tight, round shape. Place dough in bottom of floured cloche or on a floured baking sheet. Dust top with flour. Cover with lid of baker or tea towel. Let rise 30 minutes. Cut a large shallow X on the top of the loaf using a serrated knife.

To bake using a clay baker: Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 40 minutes, remove the lid, and continue baking for an additional 10 minutes or until done. When done, loaf will be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

To bake on a floured baking sheet: Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 40-50 minutes or until done. When done, loaf will be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.