Everything Bagel Seasoning Bread

I swear, I was a bread maker in a previous life.  I'm so excited to be baking bread from scratch and I don't know if I can ever go back to eating store-bought bread.  This week, I tried making a loaf with Trader Joe's Everything But the Bagel Sesame Seasoning and it turned out AMAZING.  I don't know about you, but I always order an everything bagel instead of any other kind of bagel.  There's something about the seasoning mix that is just oh-so-tasty.  Naturally, pairing that seasoning mix with freshly baked bread is a delicious combination.

I'm trying to cut down on other carbs just so I can enjoy more of this bread. Seriously, it's that good!  Okay, so it took an entire day to make because it rises overnight, but it's 100% worth it.  This loaf is so light and fluffy but has a great exterior crunch from the crust.  It's also a huge loaf, so we'll be enjoying many sandwiches and pieces of toast with this bad boy.

How good does that look?  It tastes even better!  I went with a bit of a swirl pattern with my cuts on this loaf.  Next time, I might try something a little more decorative.  It's so fun how it turns out after it bakes!  Sorry for all the exclamation points, I just love this bread and was so happy with how it turned out. 

Total Time: 16 hours (includes 12 + 2 hours rise time)
Servings: 1 XL Loaf

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups warm water
5 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp yeast
2 tsp salt
2 tbs Everything but the Bagel seasoning
2 tbs olive oil

+ 1 tbs Everything but the Bagel seasoning for topping

Instructions:

1. Add the warm water and yeast to a bowl and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
2. Add the flour, salt, seasoning and olive oil to the bowl with the water and mix until combined.
3. Shape into a ball and cover.  Allow to rise for 10-12 hours.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute.  Shape it back into a ball or your desired loaf shape.
5. Place the dough inside a dutch oven and allow to rise for an additional 2 hours.
6. Once ready to bake, lightly brush with water and sprinkle 1 tbs seasoning on top of the loaf.
7. Score your loaf however you like with about 1/4" deep slits.
8. Place in a cold oven and set oven to 450° F.  Bake for 50 minutes with the lid on the dutch oven.  Remove the lid and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until the top of the bread is a deep brown.
9. Remove from the oven and allow to come to room temperature before slicing.

This dough will seriously rise over the 10-12 hours, so make sure you use a big enough bowl!  I also like to cover my bowls with cling film instead of a dish towel in case they rise and touch it.  This way, you don't get any sticky dough on your clean dish towel.

Even before it was baked, it looked beautiful.  Make sure you get your seasoning evenly coated across the loaf and make your scores deep enough.  I randomly decided on a kind of swirl pattern for this loaf and it looked great once it baked!  Your scores should be about 1/4" deep to allow for the bread rising while it bakes.

Look at this cross-section.  I'm sure you can picture in your mind how soft and fluffy this dough is and how totally crunch-a-licious the crust is.

I also love that this recipe starts baking the bread while the oven is pre-heating.  If you've been following my breadmaking journey, you'll know that my garlic rosemary loaf got a little too dark on the bottom from pre-heating the oven with the dutch oven in it.  This round turned out absolutely perfect, so now I know how I'll be cooking the rest of my loaves (you better believe there will be more!)