Tell me now, is there anything better than dipping freshly baked bread into a plate of olive oil, salt and pepper? I can’t quite remember when I was first introduced to this delightful Italian custom, as it makes so much sense it seems I’ve known about it all along. It may have been early in my relationship with my husband, who spent a year working in Italy after graduating from college. Whenever it was, it seemed that the practice caught on quickly and was now being offered in anything even remotely resembling an Italian restaurant. Slathering your rolls in butter was suddenly passe.
For the most part, this practice is off-limits to me now. Italian restaurants as a whole are difficult, since they don’t offer too many low carb options. The temptation of the crusty italian bread with a plate of dipping oil is almost too much to bear. But once again, I send up thanks for the invention of some low carb flours. When deciding on an easy dinner of frittata the other evening, I knew we needed something a little “bready” to round it out. We have a number of fresh herbs growing on our windowsill and several olive oil/rosemary recipes have caught my eye of late. I wasn’t about to complicate matters with a fancy yeast bread, because the whole point of having frittata for dinner is the ease of it. So quick bread was just the thing and, as always, the power of the internet saved me. I simply typed in “rosemary quick bread” and had a number of recipes at my fingertips.
I chose this one, as it seemed readily adaptable to my low carb flour collection. I left out the olives, as neither my kids nor my husband like them. I also upped the amount of fresh rosemary, because I wanted it to really stand out. I contemplated adding some roasted garlic, but decided against it because I didn’t want to add another step and I really did just want to highlight the flavour of the rosemary.
The Results: Quick bread really is a wonderful thing, because you can decide to make it at almost the last moment, and have a delicious product in under an hour. This was so easy, and went perfectly with our frittata. I served it that evening with butter, and it was good enough, but the next day it occured to me that I should have served it with dipping oil. So I had a few pieces that way and it was wonderful! The evergreen flavour of the rosemary really came through and the bread was just the right texture for sopping up lots of oil. I wouldn’t ever serve it again with butter, it’s just not that kind of bread. But it would be ideal for sopping up soup or pasta sauce too.
Rosemary Olive Oil Quick Bread adapted from Magnifico!
1 1/2 cups carbalose flour
1/2 cup almond meal/flour
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten (high gluten flour)
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup almond milk or whole milk
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 325F and grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, rosemary and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and olive oil.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until top is light golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool in pan 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Serves 12. Each serving has a total of 7.6g of carbs and 3.75g of fiber.
Susi says
Great looking quick bread! I like the rosemary flavor in yours, bet it goes wonderful with dipping oil.
sara @ CaffeIna says
This is a great recipe! I'm always looking for new recipes for quick breads and one with rosemary is sure to be a fav in this house!
Jelly Shot Test Kitchen says
OMG. The only problem with this recipe is that I would eat the entire loaf, dinner be [email protected]! You have uncovered my Achilles heel, and its flecked with rosemary and doused in gallons of lovely lovely olive oil. Great post and recipe! YUM. Cheers, Michelle
M @ Betty Crapper says
I have rosemary on my kitchen window sill too, but only because I haven't gotten around to planting it outside. I love rosemary.
eatgreek.net says
it looks very tasty!!! 😀
BakingWithoutaBox says
Oh that's my kind of bread. I'm with Jelly Shot. I'd eat the whole darn thing. Lovely loaf! I've got to start my sill herb garden in the next place. (Sorry about the tag. It's the cute baby and good food that keep me circling your site.)
[email protected] says
Great quick bread! I love rosemary in bread!
Emma says
Beautiful. Especially with a big plate of pasta or soup.
A SPICY PERSPECTIVE says
Rosemary does such wonderful things to bread! This is gorgeous!
Trish says
Looks delicious. I love rosemary. Thanks for sharing.
baking.serendipity says
I love the idea of a quick bread that can be dipped in oil…much faster satisfaction 🙂 This looks delicious, and I'm sure it smells wonderful too!
Dimah says
What a beautiful loaf of bread! It looks delicious!
marla {family fresh cooking} says
Hi Carolyn, this recipe looks great. Quick breads are a favorite around here too!
Donna says
That looks positively scrumptious!
Charlie @ SweetSaltySpicy says
This bread must be so good with the rosemary!
I love dipping bread in olive oil & balsamic vinegar ;).
Vegolicious says
Mmmm the bread looks so delicious. I love the combination of olive oil and rosemary.
I'd love for you to submit one of your beautiful photos, and a link to your post, to my new vegetarian food photo gallery showcasing beautiful and flavorful vegetarian food.
Pretty. Good. Food. says
I literally just bought a loaf of rosemary and olive oil bread at the supermarket yesterday. $4.99. Glad I found this recipe! Save me some money :)!
The Mom Chef says
No, there isn't anything better! I'm gonna make this bread, break out the olive oil and dip on in. Thanks!
buttoni says
This bread looks divine. I may even add some minced onion to this. Thanks. I look forward to trying this soon.
Cherie says
I’m confused. I thought your recipes were gf. 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten (high gluten flour) doesn’t seem like it fits here. It sounds great, but I am reluctant to try it given this ingredient.
Carolyn says
Most of my recipes are gluten-free, but back in the day I was still trying to create “real” breads and such and I was using a low carb wheat flour. I don’t use it at all anymore (in fact, I have an almost full bag I haven’t touched in about 18 months!). Sorry for the confusion.
Marilyn says
Is there any way to sub out other flours for the carbalose flour? I have so many kinds of flours now that I’m doing low carb, and I just can’t fathom getting another, at least not until I use up some of the ones I have!
Marilyn says
So I tried with a mix of my other flours and the bread is pretty good. Texture is fine, but the flavor wasn’t great for me. I also had to make other substitutions, so I think I’ll try next time to make it with everything exactly (except the flour). Thank you so much. Rosemary bread is one of my husband’s favorite things to munch (mine too) and I’ve really missed it the past six months or so I have been low carb!! You’re the greatest!
Angela says
Oh I was so bummed when I read the ingredients and saw it wasn’t gluten free. Have you altered this recipe at all to make it low carb and gluten free? This sounds soooooo good!!!!!
Alice Jacoby says
I am so sad….sounds lovely and I wanted to use this bread as you suggested in your stuffing recipe,but the flours are not possible for my diet.Have you low carbed this recipe yet?
Rita M says
This looks delicious! I’ve been looking for a bread to serve with soup. Do you think I could substitute a tapioca based flour mix instead of the carbolose as I cannot eat wheat.
Carolyn says
I can’t say for sure but it’s worth a try!