June 18, 2010

Focaccia with Rosemary

Focaccia with rosemary:
This recipe has been adapted from two recipes (my Deborah Madison cookbook and a Cuisinart food processor recipe) to include whole grains and less oil.  This is a fairly easy bread to bake, as it is forgiving with the knead time, and is really difficult to screw up.

For proof, this pic is of the first time I baked it:

Focaccia

Ingredients:
1/4 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1/2 t sugar
1 cup warm water
3 T olive oil (plus about 2 T extra for topping and oiling the bowl)
2 1/2 - 3 cups flour such as a mixture of all-purpose and whole-grain (such as wheat) flour
1 teaspoon salt (plus a little extra for topping)
1-2 T rosemary, chopped or crushed

Directions:

  1. Combine 1/4 cup warm water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl and set aside until foamy.
  2. Meanwhile, combine flours, salt and rosemary, stir together well.
  3. Add 1 cup warm water and olive oil to the yeast mixture and stir to combine.
  4. Add in yeast mixture to flour mixture and stir together until combined.
  5. Turn out the dough (it should be crumbly) onto a floured countertop and knead until combined, adding extra flour as needed. Kneading should take 5-7 minutes.
  6. Pour about 1 tsp of olive oil in the bottom of a large bowl and add dough, turn once or until coated.
  7. Let rise until doubled in size about 1 hour.
  8. Grease a jelly roll pan or other large pan (you could use a baking stone as well - see note at bottom). Turn the dough out onto the pan or stone and let rest about 10 minutes. Then shape the focaccia to fit the pan.  Let rise again for about 45 minutes (the oven is a nice place for it to rise, if left on countertop cover with a large towel so the top doesn't dry out - or just put it in the oven).
  9. Take the risen focaccia out, and preheat the oven to 400 F.  Poke some nice dimples along it. Brush the remaining olive oil over the surface and sprinkle with a little bit of salt and rosemary.
  10. Bake for 35-45 minutes. It's done when golden.
Note: When putting the focaccia on the pre-heated stone, you can shape it however you like; slash it a few times across the top and pull out the bread for a nice shape, and then sprinkle with oil, rosemary and salt. Reduce the cooking time so you check on the focaccia 20 minutes into its baking time, and then every 10 minutes after.

1 comment:

  1. Ohmigod this has me salivating on my work desk. This is where I am going to take one of your bread recipes for once... Yum, perfect for summer dinner al fresco!

    ReplyDelete