Fresh Baked Bread with Dipping Oil

Bread is a fundamental part of most dinner meals.  The best breads are homemade, piping hot from the oven ready to drizzle with butter and savour every morsel!  Few can resist the tantalizing aroma of fresh baked bread.  Restaurants know this which is one reason warm breads are served before the entrée almost as an appetizer then the bread basket is usually filled during the meal.

Dinner breads are traditionally served on a cutting board with a serrated knife to cut as desired.  Dinner rolls are traditionally served in a lined wicker bread basket.  The basket itself allows steam to escape the hot bread from below so the crust does not become soggy.  At the same time the lining which is usually a cloth serviette keeps the bread or rolls warm.

Pictured is the beautiful dinner roll basket we enjoyed at Middle Grounds (more on this restaurant in future posts).  The rolls were a variety of mulit-grains and not shaped in the traditional roll style.  The shape was achieved by rolling out the dough then cutting into rectangles that when baked softened the edges.  They were hearty yet delightful dinner rolls to say the least!

The wonderful dinner rolls were not served with butter but rather a seasoned extra virgin olive oil in which to dip the bread.  This is quite customary where the bread is torn from the loaf then dipped into the oil to be enjoyed and it is a healthier yet just as tasty choice as using butter.

Dipping oil is not difficult to make and in fact you don't even need to add any herbs or seasonings.  The key ingredient is good quality extra virgin olive oil.  Look for cold first pressed olive oil for the best flavour.  If using as is all you need to do is pour the olive oil into a shallow saucer for dipping the bread into.  Pictured is the dipping oil served with the fresh dinner bread.  It was seasoned with fresh basil and garlic.  Oh my, it was simply amazing!  I could have eaten nothing else and still been quite satisfied.