Bread Machine Garlic Bread

Ramps. Same slope. Same tulip poplars. Same bag, overfull because the ramps were thick this year, the best I've seen, and I picked too many and brought them home and the kitchen smelled like spring and the woods and the specific mountain wildness that can't be bought at a store.

Made ramps three ways: ramps and eggs Monday (Betty's way), ramp pesto Tuesday (my way), and Wednesday I tried something new — ramp compound butter. Ramps chopped fine and mixed into softened butter with salt, rolled into a log in plastic wrap, frozen. The ramp butter on a steak or on cornbread or melting into mashed potatoes is spring in a pat of butter, and the frozen logs will last until August, bringing spring back into summer the way a photograph brings a moment back into the present.

Drove to Evarts to deliver ramps to Betty. She was on the porch, same cardigan, watching the hollow. I gave her the bag of ramps and she held them to her nose and breathed deep and said Craig, those are good ramps. She said your daddy used to bring me ramps every spring. She said he'd come home from the woods with a sack and his hands would smell like ramps for three days and I'd make him sleep on the couch. She laughed. Betty laughed about Earl sleeping on the couch because of ramps, and the laugh was the sound of a sixty-year marriage distilled into a single memory, and I will carry that laugh the way I carry the ramps — carefully, knowing it's valuable, knowing it won't last forever.

All week I kept thinking about those frozen logs of ramp butter sitting in my freezer — spring banked away for later, ready when you need it. The whole point of ramp compound butter is to have something worthy to put it on, and when I want a loaf that can hold up to a good slather without falling apart, I go to this bread machine garlic bread. It’s honest and simple, the kind of thing Betty would approve of, and when a pat of that ramp butter melts into a warm slice, you’ve got the mountain and the kitchen and the whole season in one bite.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 3 hr (bread machine cycle) | Total Time: 3 hr 10 min | Servings: 12 slices

Ingredients

1 cup warm water (110°F)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 teaspoon garlic powder)
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
3 cups bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (one standard packet)
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions

Load the bread machine. Add ingredients to your bread machine pan in the order recommended by your manufacturer — typically liquids first, then dry ingredients, with yeast last and kept away from the salt.
Set the cycle. Select the Basic or White Bread setting on your bread machine. Choose your preferred crust color (medium works well here) and press Start.
Let it run. Allow the machine to complete its full cycle, including the rise and bake phases — typically 2 1/2 to 3 hours depending on your machine.
Cool before slicing. When the cycle finishes, remove the loaf from the pan immediately and set it on a wire rack. Let it cool at least 15 minutes before slicing so the crumb sets properly.
Serve with ramp butter. Slice and serve warm with ramp compound butter, plain softened butter, or a drizzle of good olive oil.

Nutrition (per serving)

Bread Machine Garlic Bread — A Loaf Worth Slicing When the Ramp Butter’s Ready