Rosemary and olive oil focaccia before baking
focaccia cut up
Focaccia is a bread, a different kind of bread basically. The difference is in the process of making the dough. My focaccia has only ‘one’ raise instead of the traditional ‘two’.
Which mean I let the dough raise only once, and then push it down to get the air out and bake it in very hot oven, just like I would do for a pizza.
Actually my ‘Pizza for two’ recipe here, is used for this Focaccia recipe. It is the exact same ingredients but the process is a bit different, in order to finish with a completely different product.
Rosemary is one of my favorite herb to use in cooking and baking. It has a very distinctive smell, that reminds me of spring and cutting grass, early in the morning. When ever possible, I try to use fresh rosemary but right now, in this recipe, I am using dry rosemary.
Ingredients:
1 cup of warm water
2 3/4 teaspoons of yeast
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil
In lukewarm water, dissolve the sugar. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and let it foam.
Mix the flour, salt and olive oil together. Add the water yeast and mix well. Gather the mix on a working surface and work the dough to a firm ball, using more flour if needed. Divide the dough into two. Put it in a greased bowl, drop a bit of olive oil on top fo the two bowl and place either a plastic sheet or a clean cloth to cover the bowl, to let it rise until double.
dough for either pizza or focaccia, rising
Do not let it rise longer than 30 minutes. Remove the cover, punch the dough down with your hand to remove the air inside. Drop it on a working surface and shape it into a rectangle or a circle, depending if you are making a pizza or a focaccia.
The size will depend to your liking and to the size of the pan used. Here, I am using a baking round dish. Usually I would use cornmeal sprinkled at the bottom of the pan prior to the baking, to prevent the dough to stick to the bottom but I am using instead, white flour because I do not have any cornmeal with me here.
Shape the dough to the size of the pan using, using your fingers to poke down the dough and to pull it to the edge. When done, sprinkle dry rosemary all over the dough. Drop olive oil on top of the rosemary, here and there, about 1/4 of a cup.
Finish it off by a sprinkle of salt all over.
Bake in a very hot oven of 425F, 220C for 35 to 40 minutes.
Rosemary and olive oil focaccia baked
Let it cool down and cut into serving size. Could be use as is or served with tomato sauce, spaghetti, etc… Very good!
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