Adventures in Bread Baking: Focaccia Bread

So I decided after Friday’s post that I needed to get in gear and start doing all of the things I’ve been thinking about trying. The first was making homemade bread.

My mom is an AMAZING cook and baker so it’s no surprise that she has completely mastered the methods of making homemade bread – her doughy masterpieces range from thick and hearty loaf breads to crusty French baguettes to Focaccia perfect for dipping in rich olive oil. I, on the other hand (and I know I have mentioned this before) did far too much tasting of my mother’s many treats and not enough learning (how to make those treats that is).

So I decided that if my mom can do it….so can I! I armed myself with all of the necessary ingredients – unbleached flour, semolina flour, salt, sugar, yeast, rosemary, garlic, olive oil. I followed the directions and at first, the bread dough was RIDICULOUSLY dry and crumbly – I immediately panicked (M. can tell you, I almost gave up). Then I remembered the way that my mom cooks – she doesn’t always cook using the EXACT amounts or ingredients in a recipe (although in baking she RARELY changes anything), but she’s learned to substitute and fix things by adding a little of this and a little of that. With this in mind, I added more water (even though the recipe didn’t call for any more). I continued to knead the dough and it started transforming into the consistency I wanted.

While I set the dough aside for it to rise I made the olive oil mixture according to the recipe…it was extremely simple. On a cutting board I laid out rosemary and garlic which I then topped with some salt (I wish I had had sea salt!) to use as an abrasive. I rubbed all of the ingredients together on my cutting board until it was very fragrant. I scraped everything into a small bowl and poured in olive oil. This mixture was set aside to marinate.

I went through the first round of “letting the dough rise” and I don’t think it really worked. The recipe said that it should be about double in size by the end of letting it sit in a warm area for 30 minutes, but it had only grown slightly bigger. Despite this fact I kept going. I had to get all of the air out of the dough and then shape it into the shape of my baking pan. After forming the dough and placing it in the baking pan I took the solid parts of my olive oil mixture and “squeezed” them over the dough. This caused the now flavored olive oil to spread all over the top of the dough. After giving the dough a little “massage” with my fingers I placed it back in its warm spot for another 30 minutes to rise a little more. Again, it didn’t really rise that much – I didn’t care. I popped the dough in the oven and waited.

I was incredibly pleased with my final product (I thought it was pretty delicious). The top of the bread was perfectly golden and the smell of the garlic and rosemary oil filled my apartment. Unfortunately I was a little too confident and decided to add a little salt to the top of the bread (I am a BIG salt fan). M. liked the bread but said it was a little too salty – oops! : )

M. has class tonight until late so I am on my own for dinner. I think I’ll enjoy a piece of my bread with some mushroom bisque. Yum!

I hope you’re having a fabulous Tuesday!