Rosemary Braided Bread Recipe
This light, fluffy, and beautiful braided bread recipe has the scent and flavor of rosemary. And you’ll be surprised how easy it is to make! Get your kids in the kitchen with you to bake this special bread.
Homemade bread is so magical. It tastes great, and making it can be a special activity you do with your kids. But a lot of people feel intimidated by making their own bread because it is kind of a process. The good thing is that most of this process is hands off! You just need to start a lot earlier than you want to eat the bread, because it needs time to rise.
In other words, this braided bread recipe is SUPER easy, it just requires patience.
And this rosemary bread is worth the wait! It’s very impressive in both taste and appearance. Gather up your ingredients and let’s get started.
How to Make Rosemary Braided Bread
To start, add your rosemary, yeast, salt, olive oil and warm water to a bowl or stand mixer. (Make sure your water is warm, but not hot, to help the yeast activate.) Stir it until the yeast is dissolved. The rosemary will stay floating on the top.
Note: we used dried rosemary for convenience, but you can also use fresh! If you’re using fresh rosemary, you can add an extra teaspoon or two to bump up the flavor.
Next, mix in 2 cups of flour and continue to mix. Add up to 1 cup more of flour to make the dough soft and not sticky.
Let the dough knead in your mixer with a dough hook for 8 minutes. If you don’t have a mixer, then flour a surface and knead the dough by hand for 8 minutes. (You’ll build some good muscles this way!)
Place dough in greased medium bowl and flip dough over so that the top is also lightly greased.
Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour in a warm, draft-free place. Then punch down the dough. Turn it out on a clean surface and knead for 5 minutes.
Divide dough into 3 equal parts and let sit for 10 minutes to relax the dough. Grease a baking sheet. Roll each dough part into an 18-inch rope. Braid ropes on greased sheet, pinch ends together. Let rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in a warm, draft-free place.
In small bowl, use a fork to lightly beat an egg white and 1 tablespoon of water. With a pastry brush, brush the top of the bread. Bake at 450 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Then comes the best part… eating it up! Slice and slather with butter or use it as a sandwich bread. Or if you are a REALLY nice human, bringing it to a friend or neighbor. I can speak from experience: they’ll love you for it!
How to Store Homemade Bread
Once the bread is completely cooled (and I mean completely) store it tightly wrapped in a plastic produce bag or large zip-top bag. Your bread will keep at room temperature for two to three days like this.
To get a couple more days of freshness, you can store the bread in the fridge. It won’t be as soft, but you can toast the slices and they refresh beautifully.
You can also slice and freeze this bread for a homemade treat anytime you’re in the mood for one.
More Homemade Bread Recipes
White Whole Wheat Bread
Healthy Banana Bread Recipe
Chocolate Orange Bread
Rosemary Braided Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoon rosemary, dried
- 2 1/4 teaspoon yeast, active dry
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cup flour, all-purpose
- 1 large egg white
Instructions
- In large bowl, add rosemary, yeast, salt, water, and olive oil. Stir until yeast is dissolved. Mix in 2 cups of flour. Add enough remaining flour until the dough is soft and not sticky. Knead dough in your mixer for 8 minutes. If you don’t have a mixer, place dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 minutes. Place dough in greased medium bowl and flip dough over so that the top is also lightly greased. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour in a warm, draft-free place.
- Punch down dough. Turn dough out and knead for 5 minutes. Divide dough into 3 equal parts and let sit for 10 minutes to relax the dough. Grease a baking sheet. Roll each dough part into an 18-inch rope. Braid ropes on greased sheet, pinch ends together. Let rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in a warm, draft-free place.
- In small bowl, use a fork to lightly beat the egg white and tablespoon of water. Brush mixture on braided loaf. Bake at 450 degrees F for 30 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool on rack.
Nutrition
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Natalie Monson
I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.
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It looks great. I love to make bread, too. Do you think I can use fresh rosemary? Thanks! Will try this recipe 🙂
That looks absolutely delicious. You make it look so easy to make, I may just try it myself.
I can really see my two girls getting involved making this receipe – especially with helping me to braid the loaf! Lovely idea.
Thank you for the step-by-step photos. Would fresh rosemary work the same and would you decrease the amount?
You can definitely use fresh – I would probably just decrease the amount that you use though because it will have a more powerful flavor. Good luck – let me know how it turns out!
This bread looks delicious. However, I have recently been under the impression that regular flour is really not healthy, yet this recipe is made with all purpose flour. What is your take?
It is true that whole wheat flour has a lot more nutrients – vitamins, minerals and fiber. But our motto is everything in moderation. And we definitely don’t believe that white flour is ‘bad’ for you. We usually make this recipe for special occasions or when we are bringing it to someone. Our regular bread staple is a homemade whole wheat bread – I grind my own wheat every week. You could try doing half all-purpose and half whole wheat flour – would love to know how it turns out!
I just tried this recipe. Haven;t tried it yet but will soon let you know! Smells divine so I expect it to be yummy! Very easy to make. :o)
Could you please clarify the amount of water needed? Is it 8 fl oz or 1 1/4 cups (10 oz)? Thanks!
It is 1 1/4 cups.
Thank you. The listing “1 1/4 8 fl oz” is confusing.
This looks delicious and your directions are clear. Thanks!
That is confusing – we will get it changed!
love the blog! we have 5 children and would like more, so reanidg your blog is like a peek into what the future could be like! I’m wondering if you used molds to get those great shapes from the salt dough? and if so, WHERE did you find them? I’ve never seen any shaped like race cars or dinosaurs, just pretty ones for making candy.thanks!
Love this recipe! I used all whole wheat pastry flour, fresh rosemary and added some minced garlic. Sprinkled a little coarse sea salt on top after the egg wash. Amazing!
Can you make the braid in advance and cook it later that day or the next? Im new to the bread making world. It takes so long, it would be nice if you could make it ahead of time then put it in the oven when you’re ready to eat it. Advice?
Can you freeze this? And if so, would you do it after the second rising?
Gosh, if I’d cooked this at 450 for 30 minutes, it would have been burned to a crisp.
Happened to check it after about 15, and had to pull it out overdone already!
Perhaps a typo?
I made this tonight. It’s really delicious and easy to make. I wasn’t sure if it was 8 Oz or 1 1/4 cups so I used 8 Oz and cut back on the flour by 1/4 cup.
The dough was still so wet even after using 3 cups of flour that we had to add at least another cup of flour. I think one and a quarter cups of water is too much. My mom was visiting so she helped me because she has been making bread and dough for years. Also, is the oven temp supposed to be 350 degrees F? My mom said 450 is way too high for bread.
Thanks for the tips. This is a recipe I have made a lot of times and it has turned out fine for me. Altitude can make a big difference with bread. Good luck to you!
This is too easy, Ive taking to making it at least 3 times a week, sometimes more.. 450 for 30 minutes is perfect timing..
And soooo delicious.
Awesome, I’m glad you’re enjoying it!
I’ve made this recipe quite a few times now and it always turns out great! I think the measurements are perfect. It’s always a big hit when I serve to guests because it looks so beautiful.
Thanks for sharing Nicole!
Came out perfectly. So delicious. Used fresh rosemary. The outside was nice and crispy. Baked for 25 minutes. Definitely a great started bread recipe.
Okay so I made this bread a few weeks ago for an autumn picnic and it was AMAZING. I’m making a double batch today to turn into bread cubes for stuffing next weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving time!) and I am so excited. Thank you for sharing this!
So glad you love it!! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I’ve probably made this bread 100 times and I’ve never had a bad loaf. It’s my go to for easy bread that’s sure to be popular. I can’t thank you enough for it!
We’re so happy to hear your positive feedback! Thanks for sharing!
Hmmmmm… not sure what i did wrong. It was looking great the braid looked wonderful and the 2nd rise time made it rise to the point where it fell back in on itself and went flat as a pancake, couldn’t even see the braid marks anymore. I went ahead and baked it anyways knowing it was already ruined and it came out gummy and dense like a doorstop (knew it tho) so i will try this again and cut the 2nd rise time in half ill bake it after only 20 minutes rise after its braided and see if that works better.
Yes, it definitely sounds like it was over-proofed second time around. Bake it just after it has almost doubled in size. Good luck!
I threw my first attempt away and went back into making it again. I added a tsp of sugar to the water oil and yeast and rested the first time braided the loaf and cut the 2nd rest time down to 25 minutes instead of 40 minutes since my first attempt rested far too long and deflated in on itself and it turned out much better. I had to check the loaf and rotate it in the oven after 10 minutes and cover it after 15 because it was browning too much and pulled it after 20 minutes. It is still a dense bread but the top is crispy and for the garlic bread i wanted to make with it, it turned out good.