Olive Focaccia

I'm not sure where focaccia has been all my life...but now that I've found it, I'm hooked! What a delicious and versatile bread. It's good plain, with soup, or sliced and made into the world's best grilled sandwich ever (or if you are fancy and have a panini maker, a panini--but I'm still in plain-old-grilling-on-a-skillet-phase). It's a fun bread to make, too, especially when you get the part when you dimple it (with your fingers or the end of a wooden spoon), and put olives and herbs into it. I love this recipe, and would love to try putting little hunks of garlic into the dimples before baking it...and experiment with different herbs. Perhaps fresh tomatoes and cheese to make a thick pizza-bread. So many options!

Here is a loaf, looking all dimply before letting it rise.

Olive Focaccia

Ingredients

2 T. yeast

4 c. flour (I love mixing up flours...I have been using 2 c. white whole wheat, 1 c. stone ground whole wheat, and 1 c. unbleached all purpose)

2 c. warm water

1/4 c. pitted olives (or more...)

2 T. olive oil

1 T. fresh rosemary

kosher salt

1 T. each flour and sugar for proofing yeast

1. Proof the yeast by mixing it with the water, and 1 T. each sugar and flour. Let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes; if it's nice and frothy, the yeast is good.

2. Once the yeast is proofed and foaming, add the olive oil and enough flour to make a slightly sticky wad of dough (I use slightly heaping cup measures and the dough is still VERY sticky). You want it to be workable enough to knead for 10 to 15 minutes. I have to add a few small handfuls of flour, and oil my hands, while kneading to keep from sticking too much. This can be done with the dough hook of a big stand up mixer (one of my dream cooking toys that maybe I'll have one day...but for now, my hands get lots of kneading exercise!).

3. Put dough into oiled bowl, cover with towel, and let rise for up to 2 hours, until doubled. This usually only takes 1 hour for me. After the dough is nice and puffed up, turn it out onto a piece of parchment paper, knead lightly while shaping into a rectangle, or oval (or any shape), about an inch thick. Transfer the loaf to a baking sheet by picking it up with the edges of the parchment paper.

4. Now for the fun! Take the end of a plastic or wooden cooking spoon (or use fingertips) to dimple the bread all over. Slice olives in half and press into dough, then sprinkle fresh rosemary (or thyme, or sage, or any herb you want) into the dimples. Brush olive oil all over it, then sprinkle with salt (I like to use kosher because the flakes are nice and big).

5. Allow your focaccia loaf to rise until doubled, then bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Tip: The olives in the bread start looking 'gunky' and kind of gross after just a couple days. They are still fine to eat, but just don't look as good as when the loaf is super fresh. If you don't think you are going to eat it all in one day, cut into sandwich size pieces and freeze. Each hunk will thaw perfectly in the microwave at a minute or so of cooking.

Here is a pic of a hunk of the focaccia--sliced in half, olive oil sprayed on the flat, sliced sides and then grilled with chicken and cheese inside. Then fresh lettuce placed inside after grilled. YUM! There are so many ways you could fill/grill a sandwich like it.

Source: The Quarter Acre Farm by Spring Warren