focaccia

When I decided I wanted to make homemade focaccia, I knew it had to be an easy and quick recipe. As I have mentioned in earlier posts, this week has been insane, and while I am taking on more freelance projects, I do still want to make some great home cooked meals and to continue blogging twice a day.

After a little bit of googling, I found the Easiest Focaccia Recipe on Allrecipes.com.

You’ll note the tab for Bodyrocks TV on the bottom of the image. If you want to feel badly about yourself, this is a good place to start. I clicked the site away and made bread instead.

This bread only has a few ingredients, flour, sugar, water, yeast, oil, and salt.

I followed the recipe and started by mixing the yeast and sugar with some warm water. Bubble bubble. I love the smell of yeast. It reminds me of bread and Champagne.

Getting the dough together was very easy. I just added the flour to the yeast mixture, then slowly mixed and added water in until it became dough.

Them I set it on top of my heating oven to rise, a trick I started using this winter when my house didn’t seem warm enough for dough to rise. Thirty minutes later, my dough looked like it was on its way to being bread. I stretched it out, coated it in a little olive oil and salt, and set it to bake at 475 for about 15 minutes.

It came out nice and golden brown, chewy on the outside and soft on the inside. This bread would make a nice base for a thick crust pizza. And it was a fantastic sandwich bread.

What is your favorite sandwich?

Easiest Focaccia, adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with flour; stir well to combine. Stir in additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all of the flour is absorbed. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly for about 1 minute.
3. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
5. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface; knead briefly. Pat or roll the dough into a sheet and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush the dough with oil and sprinkle with salt.
6. Bake focaccia in preheated oven for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on desired crispness. If you like it moist and fluffy, then you’ll have to wait just about 10 minutes. If you like it crunchier and darker in the outside, you may have to wait 20 minutes.