To me, there's nothing better than the smell of freshly baked bread, so I decided to make some homemade focaccia. A focaccia is a flat Italian bread, usually topped with olive oil and fresh herbs and very easy to make. My recipe includes non traditional ingredients like mozzarella and parmesan cheese, but you know, it's delicious so who cares. :)
I also used bread mix instead of making dough from scratch. I mean *ain't nobody got time for that* haha. The main difference is that you don't have to have all these seperate ingredients like yeast or bread flour. But if you want, you can use a standard white bread recipe for this focaccia.
I also used bread mix instead of making dough from scratch. I mean *ain't nobody got time for that* haha. The main difference is that you don't have to have all these seperate ingredients like yeast or bread flour. But if you want, you can use a standard white bread recipe for this focaccia.
Time:
10 minutes to prepare
15 + 15 minutes to rise
15 minutes in the oven
Ingredients:
250 gr bread mix
150 ml tepid water
60 gr mozzarella
20 gr parmesan cheese (I usually use leftover parmesan from a pasta dinner the night before)
pepper & sea salt
For the olive oil:
1 clove of garlic
about 15 ml olive oil
1/2 tsp rosemary (I was out of fresh rosemary so I used dried rosemary, that worked as well)
Finely grate the garlic into a cup, pour in the olive oil and add the rosemary. Let this sit for a while. I used a chili pepper infused oil, but regular olive oil works just fine.
10 minutes to prepare
15 + 15 minutes to rise
15 minutes in the oven
Ingredients:
250 gr bread mix
150 ml tepid water
60 gr mozzarella
20 gr parmesan cheese (I usually use leftover parmesan from a pasta dinner the night before)
pepper & sea salt
For the olive oil:
1 clove of garlic
about 15 ml olive oil
1/2 tsp rosemary (I was out of fresh rosemary so I used dried rosemary, that worked as well)
Finely grate the garlic into a cup, pour in the olive oil and add the rosemary. Let this sit for a while. I used a chili pepper infused oil, but regular olive oil works just fine.
So mix the water & bread mix with a wooden spoon
Keep on stirrin' until you have something like this:
Now you have to get your hands messy and knead it to a firm dough ball. Use a bit of flour if the dough is too sticky to handle.
Cover the bowl with a warm & damp tea towel and let it rest for about 15 minutes. Keep it somewhere warm if you can.
Now your dough is ready to be rolled out on a floured surface. The dough should feel fluffier than before. Use a rolling pin or a bottle of wine if you don't have one!
The dough should be somewhat thicker than a pizza. Put it on a prepared baking tray, then push your fingers in the dough to make these little 'wells'. The olive oil will sit in these wells and make the focaccia moist and rich from the inside.
Use a pastry brush to cover the dough with your garlic/rosemary oil and season with salt & pepper. Let the dough rest again for 15 minutes. In the mean time, preheat your oven to 200 degrees C.
Now cover your dough with lots o' cheese, and put it in the oven! Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown and bubblin' away!
So there you have it, an easy focaccia that's soft on the inside, crispy on the outside. Some people like to add olives or (sun dried) tomatoes, but I prefer it simple like this. You can serve this warm or cold, as an appetizer (in small slices) or just eat it for lunch (1/4 pp)! I would recommend keeping this for 2 days at most, but you can also put it in your freezer to keep it longer. Just heat it in the oven when you need it. But you know, if you were like me you would eat it immediately anyway ;).