This was the year to mess with bread. I figured the worst that could happen would be a bread flop, and it may take a few attempts. I decided that focaccia would be the first attempt, since it wasn’t critical to the meal. It came out great, not perfect, but delicious nonetheless. It made a lot. I didn’t want to mess with halfing the recipe. Maybe next time!
I used Anne Burrell’s focaccia recipe and topped it with fresh rosemary. It was good. I wonder if it would have raised a bit more if I had given it a bit more time. You can’t rush yeast. It does it’s thing slowly, but surely.
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 tbs sugar
5 cups flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt + 1 teaspoon for sprinkling
1 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
Directions:
Leave lots of time, focaccia needs about 2 hours to rise.
Combine water, yeast, and sugar in a bowl. Let it sit for about 15-minutes in a warm place until frothy & foamy.
My warm space was the oven on low, venting on the stove top where the yeast was resting.
With a dough hook attached to the stand mixer, mix flour, 1/2 cup olive oil, salt, and yeast on low until combined. Then mix on medium for 5 minutes.
Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and need by hand a few times.
Drizzle olive oil into the sides of a bowl. Put the dough ball into the bowl, turn over once to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for an hour, doubling in size.
Add the 1/2 cup olive oil to a sheet pan. It seems like a lot, but Anne Burrell says that’s what makes focaccia so good. Add the dough in and stretch the dough to the edges of the pan.
Turn the dough over to coat well with oil.
Poke finger marks into the dough each an inch away from the other holes and sprinkle with salt and rosemary.
Let it rise for another hour.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Bake 20-25 minutes.
I cut the rise-time a bit short and would have liked it to be more airy. It was a bit dense.
I loved the rosemary flavor. It was crunchy and moist. I really liked it and will try it again, when I’m not trying to rush it for dinner time.
I served it with gnocchi with tomato sauce.
Yum, this sounds good! Were you there when I made a focaccia with rosemary and grapes for girls night? I remember it being really good. My rosemary from last summer grew into a BUSH over the winter. There is so much. So I need to make some focaccia soon!
Oooo tons of rosemary? sign me up! I can’t wait to see what you do with it. I find a little goes a long way so I rarely need as much as I have.