Foccacia Bread
Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com
1 Tablespoon Honey
2 Cups Warm Water
1 Tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
1 Tablespoon Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
5 Cups All-Purpose Flour, or as needed
Thinly Sliced Fresh Tomato
Thinly Sliced Fresh Onion
3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Freshly Chopped Rosemary
1 Tablespoon Freshly Chopped Basil
1/3 Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
Dissolve honey in warm water in a large bowl, then sprinkle yeast over the top. Let it stand for 5 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to foam. Stir in 1 Tablespoon of salt, 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil and 5 cups of flour until the dough comes together. Knead in Kitchenaid Mixer until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes) you can also knead on well floured surface by hand. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 415 degrees F.
Place the dough onto an oiled baking sheet (I used a jelly roll pan because it was quite large) and flatten to cover the whole sheet evenly. Use the tips of your fingers to make indentations all over the dough spaced about 1 inch apart. Place your sliced tomatoes and onions on your focaccia. Drizzle the focaccia with 3 Tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese, rosemary, basil and kosher salt. Let it rise for 10 minutes.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Never having made focaccia bread before, I wasn't sure how this would turn out, but after tweaking my recipe a bit to add the things I wanted to it like the tomato and onion, I was thrilled with my result. It was great dipping in olive oil with dinner, and I can't wait to make a panini with it. I'm sure it will be delicious! The best thing about it was, from the time I started
to the time I pulled it out of the oven, it was nearly 1 hour. It's a great bread when you just don't have a whole lot of time!
