Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

April and the dogwoods are blooming exactly the way Gloria described on that Highway 14 stretch. I drove past them on Sunday and thought about her telling me about them every year for five years and about how I had not really seen them until she made me look. That is what love does sometimes. It tells you to look at the same thing every year until you actually see it.

At the daycare, Elijah was moved up to the three-year-old room this month. He has been with us since August, eight months, and he is ready. His vocabulary is strong now, he has friends, he navigates the room with confidence. On his last day in the toddler room he brought me another drawing. This one was much more detailed: a house with a door and windows, two figures next to it, and one slightly smaller figure between them. He said: that is me and you and Miss Patricia. I said it is beautiful. He said I will miss you. I said I will be right down the hall. He said okay. He walked to the three-year-old room like he had always been going there.

I cried in the supply closet for about four minutes. Then I washed my face and went back to my room.

Made Easter lamb this week for the first time, a small leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary, because I finally have rosemary that is not dying. I roasted it low and slow and it came out tender and fragrant and tasted like something from a restaurant. Gloria and James were delighted. James said what do you call this and I said lamb and he said well. Well is good from James. Well covers a lot of ground.

The rosemary on the lamb was the whole point — I’ve killed that plant twice before, and this year I finally didn’t. While the leg rested on the cutting board and Gloria was already setting the table, I had dough going on the side: a simple rosemary bread, the kind Macaroni Grill brings to the table warm with a little dish of olive oil and you eat half of it before your food arrives. It felt right to bake something that smelled exactly like the roast, to carry that fragrance all the way through the meal. James said “well” about the lamb. He pulled a second piece of bread without saying anything at all, which I’m counting as a standing ovation.

Prep Time: 15 min + 1 hr rise | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 1 hr 40 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 cup warm water (about 110°F)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (one standard packet)
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
1 teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, roughly chopped (divided)
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt, for topping

Instructions

Activate the yeast. In a large bowl, combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Stir gently and let sit for 5–8 minutes until foamy. If it doesn’t foam, your water may have been too hot or too cold — start over with fresh yeast.
Mix the dough. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the fine salt, and 1 tablespoon of the chopped rosemary to the yeast mixture. Add the flour one cup at a time, stirring until a shaggy dough forms.
Knead. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 6–8 minutes until smooth and slightly tacky but not sticky. Add flour a tablespoon at a time only if the dough is unworkably sticky.
First rise. Lightly coat a clean bowl with olive oil, place the dough inside, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Shape and second rest. Preheat oven to 375°F. Punch the dough down and shape it into a round or oval loaf about 1 inch thick. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover loosely and let rest for 15 minutes.
Top and bake. Brush the top generously with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Scatter the remaining 1 tablespoon of rosemary over the surface and press the leaves in very gently. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Bake for 20–22 minutes until golden brown on top and hollow-sounding when tapped on the bottom.
Serve warm. Let the bread cool for just 5 minutes before slicing — it’s meant to be served warm, ideally alongside a small bowl of good olive oil for dipping.

Nutrition (per serving)

Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread — The Herb That Finally Stayed