After a long day at work and a full day of gloomy skies and bitter rain, I usually chill out by busying myself in the kitchen. Mostly for desserts, but today I had the urge to try out something new. I had a really nice piece of Caramelised Onion Foccacia from Marks and Spencers the other day, which was really lovely, so I thought that it might be a good idea to try and attempt to make my own. I thought it was easy-ish, so as I greedily finished off my lunch, I decided I had to do it.
Later that evening, I remembered this site that my sister showed me on Tuesday, and it was www.foodgawker.com which she stumbled upon thanks to stumbled-upon.com...or something. Foodgawker is a website where people submit recipes and photos of their masterpieces, and it just so happened that somebody submitted a recipe for Rosemary and Garlic Foccacia (Surprise! Surprise!). That was perfect because the recipe from the author was very easy to follow and my foccacia turned out quite good, so for that, I'm giving a shout out to Foodgawker contributor, Gwendolyn of www.patentandpantry.wordpress.com!
I'm a not-so-well-off student, so there will be times when I will have to substitute something if a required ingredient is nowhere to be found, or absurdly expensive. Luckily for me, this time the only item on the list I was short of was olive oil. I had vegetable oil in the pantry and a bit of olive oil left, so since I didn't have enough of OO, I just used vegetable oil for the dough recipe (...which didn't really affect it that much, as far I know..) So the recipe is as shown:
Rosemary, Thyme and Garlic Foccacia
4 cups of unbleached flour
1 & 3/4 cups of warm water
1/4 cup of olive oil (or vegetable oil)
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. traditional baking yeast
Topping:
4 tbsp. olive oil for drizzling
1 tbsp. chopped rosemary
1 tbsp. chopped thyme
1 tbsp. coarse sea salt
1 tbsp. freshly cracked pepper
1 tbsp. minced garlic, or garlic granules
The first thing you do is combine the water, the yeast and the sugar in a mixing bowl. Let the yeast foam and sit while you sift the flour in a different bowl. Add the oil and salt to the liquid and prepare to mix. I used my handheld mixer with the dough hook attachment. Beat on a low speed, and add the flour gradually into the liquid, until it forms a slightly sticky but combined dough.
On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until its smooth and springy. Knead for about 5 minutes, and afterwards, place the dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Place the bowl in a draft-free place, like your pantry or the boiler cupboard, and allow the dough to rise for about an hour to an hour and a half.
Now, Gwendolyn advices to only let the dough rise once to achieve her desired consistency, which is dense and doughy without being to airy and crumbly. After all, foccacia bread is essentially a thick flat bread, so I guess after three tries, she finally found the 'just-right' quality she has been craving for (a la Goldilocks).
For my take on the recipe, I let the dough double in size, punched the hell out of it, and left it to rise again for a second time. At this point I didn't think it would make that much difference, but I didn't have any experience of breadmaking, so for all I knew I just messed it up. But moving on...
After letting it rise for the second time, I oiled a baking tray and laid out the foccacia dough, stretching it out to the corners carefully. I sprinkled my toppings evenly and drizzled the olive oil all over the dough. Just like every other foccacia, I put little crater dents on my dough to create that holey-look (LOL!) and to keep with that rustic feel that comes with Italian cuisine. There's always solace in cooking rustically, in that it needn't be perfect, so in the occasion that you do make a mistake...just say that it's 'rustic' and it's meant to be like that! It's a win-win situation really, si?
So, after poking the fun out of your dough, let it sit and rise for another 15 minutes, and then bake in a preheated oven at 177 degrees Celsius, for 20 minutes. Do not overcook as it will result to a hard and tough bread! We're not making biscotti!
After 20 minutes of impatient loittering, I took out my 'rustic' foccacia out of the oven......and there I was. Speechless because it turned out the way it was supposed to (I think...). AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!, but maybe it was only beginner's luck, but either way, my foccacia was beautiful!!!!
That soft and pretzel-like texture, mixed with a crispy crust that's seasoned to perfection...delightful. It's not just foccacia, it's MY foccacia!!!
Simple recipe, great result. That's what you call comfort food on a rainy day! Try and enjoy it on its own, or maybe with some sun dried tomatoes and olives. Multo bene!!!
Bon Appetito!
xoxo
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