Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Rosemary Focaccia


This is a recipe I adapted from How To Bake by Nick Malgieri. I love baked goods, but am so bad at it. This book has some great tips for the baking challenged. I did change the recipe a little. After mixing the yeast mixture and milk mixture with the flour, he has you vigorously beat for 1 minute. There is no way you can incorporate the ingredients in that short amount of time. I topped my focaccia with dried rosemary from my garden, he used fresh rosemary sprigs. I also topped mine with cheese. The bread was a little denser than I would prefer, but overall the taste was great and the bread turned out beautifully. I will show a picture on a later post of a sandwich I made with the leftovers.

Rosemary Focaccia

1 cup warm tap water (about 110 degrees)
2 1/2 tsp (1 envelope) active dry yeast
6 tbsp olive oil
5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp dried rosemary, divided
1 cup milk
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Measure the water into a bowl and whisk in yeast, then 3 tablespoons olive oil. Measure the flour, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 tablespoon dried rosemary into a mixing bowl and stir well to combine. Add the yeast mixture and milk to the flour mixture and beat until well combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 hour, until doubled in bulk. Spread 1 1/2 teaspoons of the oil on a 11 x 7 jelly roll pan. Turn the dough out onto the pan and pat and press it to fill the pan completely. Dimple the surface with your fingertip at 2 inch intervals to create cavities. Drizzle with remaining olive oil, rosemary and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Let the dough rise for another hour. Place the dough in a heated 450 degree oven on a rack set at lower third of oven. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Half way through baking, lift a side of the focaccia wit a spatula to check if browning to quickly on the bottom. If it is, place another pan under the bread to insulate. Sprinkle with the Parmesan in the last 10 minutes of baking time. Cut the bread into squares so you can make sandwiches with the leftovers.

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