Green onion bread recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups warm milk
1 envelope of yeast
1-2 tsp salt, depending on your sodium proclivities
lots of freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
3 cups bread flour
A whole lot of green onions (I used two entire stalks of these)

1) Dissolve yeast in warm milk in a large mixing bowl. Let stand ~10 minutes until foamy. If you have a lot of time on your hands, use conventional yeast. I use the quick-rising kind.

2) Whisk in the salt, pepper, egg, and one cup of the flour. Whisk until smooth.

3) Switch to a wooden spoon and beat in the rest of the flour gradually. When it gets too difficult, flour your hands, dump it onto a floured board, and continue by kneading.

4) When it is smooth, smoosh it out flat, add half the green onions, knead, and then smoosh it out again, add the other half of the green onions, and knead again.

5) Oil a bowl, smoosh the dough into a round lump, put it into the bowl, and then turn it over so the top and bottom are both oiled.

6) Cover it with a wet towel and let it rise until doubled. If making the night before, you can let it rise in the fridge. If you are impatient, you can put it in the oven on extremely low heat, then kill the heat, and let it sit in the residual heat to rise. Depending on how you encourage it to rise and whether you use conventional or rapid-rise yeast, this can take 20 minutes to 12 hours to double in volume.

7) Punch down the dough, shape it into a round, score the top with a cross, and put it onto an oiled cookie sheet. Cover with a wet towel and let rise until nearly doubled. As in step 6, "let rise" means use any method you like based on your time and patience!

8) Bake in preheated 375F oven for 40-45 minutes, until it sounds hollow when you thwack it with your finger.

I use this as a generic base for all kinds of yummy savory breads. Instead of or in addition to the green onions, you can use any fresh or dried herbs, grated cheddar or any other hard cheese (like pepperjack! yum!), olives, nuts, etc. You can also eliminate the pepper if you'd like. Don't forget to reduce the salt if you use something salty, like olives or pesto.

You can also reserve a bit of the egg from step 2 and use it to brush on the top before baking for a nice finish. You can also use all-purpose flour, but it will be less airy and chewy (more cakelike).

TA-da!

This is adapted from a recipe by Deborah Madison, the famous vegetarian chef.