Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Rosemary and Olive Focaccia

I love making bread, aside from the fact that it's great therapy (all that kneading gets rid of pent-up emotions), the weather here in Manila is perfect for fermentation! I usually make my own focaccia for when I cook pasta. Here is the recipe I always use...also from Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen.
WATER 375ml
YEAST 17.5 grams
BREAD FLOUR 625 grams
SALT 10 grams
SUGAR 3 grams
OLIVE OIL 30 ml
BLACK PITTED OLIVES 150 grams
ROSEMARY, dried 5 grams

Dissolve salt in water, set aside. In a stainless steel bowl, sift flour, yeast and sugar. Slowly pour in water (you may or may not need additional water--this is a plus or minus ingredient). When dough comes together, knead on counter top. Wipe a small amount of vegetable oil on the counter top. Knead for 10 minutes. At this time, part of the dried rosemary may be added to the dough. Roll into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover with a towel and place in a warm place to rise. Leave for an hour or until dough is double in volume. Punch down dough to distribute gases. Knead for a while and roll out using a rolling pin. Roll flat (about 1/4 of an inch) Grease a cookie sheet, lay flat dough, make indentions with your fingers and sprinkle dried rosemary and olives. Bake in a preheated 400 degrees farenheit oven for 40 minutes. Spray with water for first 10 minutes to develop crust. Enjoy!

2 comments:

Nate @ House of Annie said...

wow, that's a lot of olives! I like the rosemary addition. Have you tried using different kids of olives?

chef_d said...

I love putting olives on my focaccia, haven't tried the other kinds of olives yet...maybe I will try next time :)