Well, this post will officially mark the first post in my newly discovered baking blog. Oh joy. Rather than just posting what I have currently and / or recently been baking, i’m going to first post a short achieve of some of my recipes and pictures from past months, to both give a bit of a taste of my baking interests and endeavors and to.. well, fill blank space. So do enjoy and apologies in advance if my recipe directional skills are a bit lackluster.
This relatively simple and traditional Mediterranean flat bread was perhaps my first experience in working with yeast, and my first experience with making yeast bread by hand, because I tend to prefer the bread machine method. Well, that is, if you can call it “my” experience. I’m not going to lie, my mom helped me out alot on this one. Infact, I think I just did the minimal grunt work such as kneading, mixing, etc. things of the sort, whereas my mother did any of the actual labor and helped me when I needed it. I needed alot of help for this one, too, as I can remember. Regardless of my obliviousness to yeast and general baking at the time, with the help of my mom, this bread came out surprisingly delicious. Packed full of garlic and herbs, as I prefer.
This recipe comes from the book “The Complete Book of Bread & Bread Machines” by Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter, which as the title implies, is primarily a book that talks about bread machines, gives bread machine recipes and general tips on how to work with them. However, there’s a small section of do-it-by-hand recipes, this focaccia being one of them.
Traditional Focaccia☆
● 3/2 oz fresh yeast
● 1 1/3 – 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
● 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
● 5 cups unbleached white bread flour
● 2 tsp salt
● 1 tbsp chopped fresh sage
For the topping:
● 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
● 4 garlic cloves, chopped
● 12 fresh sage leaves
Yields 2 round loaves
(I imagine you could also make variations of the ingredients, such as adding other herbs like basil or rosemary, top it with chopped black olives, etc. etc. It’s ultimately up to you and your tastes. I just love garlic.)
1. Lightly oil 2 x 25cm / 10in shallow round cake tin (pans) or pizza pans. Cream the yeast with 4 tbsp of the water, then stir in the remaining water. Stir in the oil.
2. Sift the flour and salt together into a large bowl and make a well in the center. Pour the yeast mixture into the well in the center of the flour and mix to a soft dough.
3. Turn out the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 8 – 10 minutes (this is the annoying part, and hence why I love bread machines so much) until smooth and elastic. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with lightly oiled clear film (plastic wrap) or a large, lightly oiled plastic bag, and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 – 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in bilk.
4. Afterwards, knock back (punch down) and turn out on to a lightly floured surface. Gently knead in the chopped sage. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Shape each into a ball, roll out into 10in circles and then place in the prepared tins.
5. Cover with lightly oiled clear film (again) and leave to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. Uncover, and using your fingertips, poke the dough to make deep dimples over the entire surface. Replace the clear film and leave to rise until doubled in bulk.. Again.
6. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°. Drizzle over the olive oil for the topping and sprinkle each focaccia evenly with chopped garlic. Dot the sage leaves over the surface. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until both loaves are golden. Immediately remove the focaccia from the tins and transfer them to a wire wrack to cool slightly (not that I ever have the patience for that).
Finished product.
Mmmm, delicious.
This sort of bread, with it’s garlici..ness, would be good paired with pasta or some other savory tomato-y dish. Then again, I just ate it as is, so really it’s quite flexible in that sense. My only advice would be to be patient and to be extremely liberal with the olive oil in this shit, because despite the amount that the recipe calls for, the loaves still came out a tad bit dry. But good regardless.
