Cooking

Everything’s All Focaccia

Delicious Rosemary Focaccia

Assistants love to brush the dough with olive oil.

Assistants love to brush the dough with olive oil.

A few weeks ago, while I was traveling, The Husband purchased premade focaccia dough and baked it up for dinner with The Assistant. The boy was hooked. While I was surprised that he liked the intensity of the rosemary flavoring, he absolutely adored the soft texture. Plus, he was delighted to find that it did an excellent job of soaking up his favorite lemon olive oil.

While that dough was perfectly good, it came from a store that isn’t on my usual rotation; let’s face it, I’m not driving out of my way for premade dough. So I decided to make my own. Homemade bread is time-consuming, especially if you’ve been at work all day, but it freezes well and is easy to warm in the oven. Depending on your situation, it might be worth making a double batch on the weekend, freezing one loaf and thawing and re-warming as necessary.

A note about flour measurements: whenever possible, I prefer to measure by weight, not by volume. In this case, every recipe that I found offered varying measurements by cup, so that’s what I went with. However, I don’t reach into the container and just scoop the flour out because you can’t accurately predict how tightly packed that cup of flour will be. Instead, I use a spoon and spoon the flour into the measuring cup, and then level it off with a knife. If you use the scoop method, I would aim low on the measurement — maybe 2.5 cups — and add more flour, tablespoon by tablespoon, as necessary.

Rosemary Focaccia

Serves 6-8
Prep time 2 hours, 30 minutes
Cook time 20 minutes
Total time 2 hours, 50 minutes
Allergy Wheat
Meal type Bread
Misc Child Friendly, Freezable, Serve Hot
The Assistant has developed a sudden love for focaccia. The rosemary combines with the surface sea salt to make a lovely flavor combination. Serve with olive oil and high quality balsamic vinegar for dipping.

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons Olive oil (divided)
  • Sea salt (for sprinkling)
  • 1 cup Warm water (105-115 degrees F)
  • 1 tablespoon Salt
  • 1 tablespoon Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Fresh rosemary (chopped)
  • .5 teaspoon Dried basil
  • dash Garlic powder
  • 3 cups All-purpose flour (packed very lightly; use less if you tend toward a heavy scoop)
  • 2.5 teaspoons Active dry yeast (one packet)

Directions

Step 1
Mix yeast and water in a small bowl or measuring cup. Allow the yeast to proof for 5-10 minutes, until bubbles form.
Step 2
In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar, rosemary, basil and garlic powder.
Step 3
Add the yeast water and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to the dry ingredients. Mix to combine.
Step 4
When the dough has come together, knead on a lightly floured surface.
Step 5
Place the kneaded ball of dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with a damp cloth for 30-60 minutes.
Step 6
Punch dough down, and arrange in a greased baking pan (I used a 9x9 baking dish). Re-cover and allow to rise for another 30-60 minutes.
Step 7
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Punch dough down again in the baking pan. Use your knuckles to make indentations about 1 inch or 2 cm apart. Pierce the dough with a fork at random intervals.
Step 8
Brush the dough with olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt.
Step 9
Set the oven timer for 15 minutes. In my oven, it takes closer to 21 minutes, but I prefer to check early and often to make sure that it's not getting too dark.
Step 10
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

Results

Weekend-AllThe Assistant loved this bread. So much so that he’s constantly asking me if I can make another batch. The Husband has suggested appropriating the leftovers for sandwiches.

A side note for comic relief: around the house, we’ve created made-up “inappropriate words,” as The Assistant calls them. One of them, a euphemism for FUBAR, is “focaccia.” As in, “I’ve been working on this project, but my computer crashed and everything’s all focaccia.” Needless to say, The Assistant adores the fact that he’s able to say the “inappropriate word.”

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