Skip to main content

Focaccia

Welcome back! 
Today, we have a very essential Italian recipe: Focaccia! This is a bread that is very similar to pizza dough, except that you eat it just as bread, whether plain or as a sandwich. It's very nice because you can add a variety of interesting ingredients on top (some people make some really beautiful focaccia art), or you can just make it the classic way, like we do here.

Focaccia

Ingredients:

  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 package (1/4 ounce or 2 teaspoons) instant yeast
  • 2 teaspoons honey or sugar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/3 cup water
  • More olive oil for the pan and on top
  • Various toppings: rosemary, coarse salt (like fleur de sel), olives, etc.

Directions:

  1. In a stand mixer (using the dough hook), add the flour, yeast, honey, olive oil, and salt. Slowly add the water in and mix it on low speed until it has become smooth. You can also knead it with your hands if you're feeling daring.
  2. Once it's good, set it in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let it rest for 1-2 hours depending on the temperature outside. If it's cold where you are, you may need to let it rest for 2 hours. A trick would be to also take a cup of hot water and put it in the oven with the dough.
    So much bigger now!

  3. Take it out and punch it a little to get the bubbles out of the dough. Fold it back into a ball and cover it up. Let it rest for 10-20 minutes.
  4. Take your pan and pour 3-4 tablespoons olive oil on the bottom.
  5. Roll it flat and put it into the pan. Stretch it out enough so that it has some room to shrink back.
  6. Drizzle some olive oil on the dough and add your toppings.

  7. Let it rise for 20-30 minutes.
  8. Bake in the oven at 400°F for 20 minutes.
Of course, you can also use active yeast for this recipe, you'll just put the yeast into warm water (110°F) and after letting it proof, add it in where you add the water in step 1. Another thing to note is that the one we made is quite thick, you could obviously just use a larger pan to make it thinner. Also, this is not exactly like normal bread, so when you knead the dough, it is not necessary to make the dough super-duper smooth. That way, it's a little less work! For a really quick focaccia, you can use pre-prepared pizza dough - they're pretty similar, and you'll get a similar taste, just not as fresh as dough made from scratch!

-Chefpo
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Welcome back!  Today, we have a recipe for the most iconic cookie ever: Chocolate Chip Cookies! Loaded with smooth chocolate, these cookies are an absolute treat that everyone is sure to love. Plus, this recipe's pretty easy to whip up quickly, so it's super convenient when you need to prepare something for a party or if you just want some indulgent snacks.  Chocolate Chip Cookies Makes 18 cookies Ingredients: 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened 100 grams white sugar 75 grams brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 large egg 1 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon baking powder (optional) 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 6 ounces chocolate chips or chunks Directions: In a mixing bowl, cream the butter with the white and brown sugar. Add in the vanilla extract and egg and mix. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sea salt into the wet mixture. Mix this together, but don't overmix! Add the chocolate chips or chunks and mix. Let the cooki...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fig Crème Fraîche Cake

Welcome back!  Today, we have a cake featuring an interesting fruit: the fig! Figs are typically eaten dried or in some processed form because they don't stay fresh for long, so making this dish out of fresh figs was quite nice. Once completed, the fig flavor blends in very well with the rest of the cake and creates a dessert that is flavorful but not overly rich. Fig Crème Fraîche Cake Makes a 9" cake Ingredients: 1/2 pound figs, quartered (if you have big figs, maybe 6-8 slices) 120 grams cake flour 50 grams almond flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 50 grams sugar 60 grams honey 120 grams crème fraîche 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier 1/2 cup melted butter Directions: In a bowl, sift in the dry ingredients (cake flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt). Mix this together. In another bowl, put in the sugar, honey, and crème fraîche, and mix them together.  One add a time, add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Add in the vanilla ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Instant Pot Leg of Lamb

Welcome back!  Today, we have another lamb recipe, this time for a different cut. It has the similar lamb flavor and also features the key ingredient of rosemary, but this recipe works nicely as a stew, so it's rather different from the other two. Fun fact, Greece is the top consumer of sheep meet per capita in the world, which makes sense as lamb is a common Mediterranean meat. Rosemary also originates from the Mediterranean, so it's a perfect combination!  Instant Pot Leg of Lamb Makes 4 servings Ingredients: 4-5 pounds lamb leg (boneless) 1 onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 sprigs of rosemary and thyme, chopped Salt and pepper to taste 1 1/2 cup total of chicken stock and/or water (we used 1 cup chicken stock and 1/2 cup dry white wine) Other vegetables: potatoes, carrots, zucchini 2 tablespoons cornstarch A little water Directions: Dry the lamb with a paper towel. Then, tie it with some twine to keep everything together Season the lamb by rub...
Post a Comment
Read more