Rosemary Focaccia

MMMMMM bread!!!!!! I can easily make a meal out of nothing but bread, and have many times too. As long as I have enough butter or olive oil, I could easily live on bread alone. 🙂 That being said, I made a delicious rosemary focaccia to go with my Southwestern Succotash Steak Salad. Southwestern Succotash and Steak Salad It was a perfect accompaniment to the delicious salad.

I think I enjoy baking all different kinds of breads as much as I enjoy eating all different kinds of breads. There is something very comforting about making breads to me. I tend to bake more breads in the winter and cooler months than I do in the warmer summer months, although to every rule there is an exception.

Focaccia is a flat leavened oven-baked Italian bread, similar in style and texture to pizza, and in some places, it is even called pizza, pizza bianca. Focaccia can be served as a side dish or as sandwich bread and it can be round, rectangular, or square shape. It is a yeasted flat bread. Focaccia is good anytime, but it is definitely best when served warm, not hot, but warm, dipped in even more olive oil. I say even more, because it is made with quite a bit of olive oil.

 Focaccia does not get stale easily due to the high quantity of olive oil and other herbs, while traditional bread does. Regular bread is less expensive and has less gluten than focaccia. Most focaccia breads are dimpled. This is to reduce the air in the dough and prevent the bread from rising too quickly. 

Rosemary Focaccia

I started off with a basic focaccia dough, then added the rosemary, both in the dough and on top. This delicious bread only takes a few basic ingredients too.

Start With A Sponge

1 tsp dry active yeast

1/2 cup warm water

3/4 cup flour

Whisk the yeast and water together and let rest for about 10 minutes, or until it gets frothy. Add the flour and let it rise for about 45 minutes.

Dough

1 tsp dry active yeast

1 cup warm water

3 TBSP olive oil

the sponge

3 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp salt

3-4 TBSP fresh rosemary chopped fine

Topping

1 1/2-2 TBSP olive oil

coarse sea salt

sprigs of fresh rosemary, cut very small

To make the dough, once again, mix the yeast with water and let it get frothy for about 10 minutes. Combine the flour salt and chopped rosemary and make a well in the center. Add the water and yeast combination, along with the sponge and the olive oil and slowly start mixing it all together.

On a lightly floured surface knead the dough for about 8-10 minutes or until it forms into a soft dough ball. The dough will be very soft. Add about 1 TBSP of olive oil to a large bowl, add the dough ball and cover to let rise for about 1 1/4 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Once the dough has doubled, place it on a baking sheet. Get your hands wet with just a little water and slowly spread the dough out to cover the pan. You may need to let the dough rest for about 10 minutes.

Let the dough rise once again for about 1 hour or until the dough is full of air bubbles.

Preheat the oven to 425*F or 219* C.

Once the dough is ready, dimple it with your fingers, by just kind of lightly punching it down with your finger tips. Add the olive oil to the top and spread it to completely cover the top of the bread. Add the small rosemary sprigs and sprinkle with the coarse salt.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until the focaccia is golden brown and the crust is a little crispy around the edges. Spray some water into the oven 3 times within the first 10 minutes of baking. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before slicing it and serving it. Focaccia is best served warm. !Mangia! !Buon Appetito!

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.