For my inaugural post, I'll share with you one of my new favourite recipes from my all-time favourite cookbook -
The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I had long ago made myself a goal to make some home-made focaccia bread, but I'd just never gotten around to it. One week, Tom and I were meal planning for the upcoming week when I was paging through
a Company's Coming cookbook and saw a recipe for a Balsamic Vinegar Dip, which brought my mind straight over to focaccia bread for some reason or another.
I felt inspired to create a meal around the dip - starting with the bread. We had my sister Danielle and her boyfriend, Timothy over to share the meal with us. We served the bread, dip, some marinated/grilled chicken, some garlic rice, veggies & hummus annnnd for some odd reason we ended up with some bits and pieces of an
M&M's Oriental Party Pack too, even though it didn't really fit in with the other things we had for dinner. We drank some Open red wine - a merlot - to go along with dinner. It was a delicious evening - delectable food and delightful company!
So, without further ado (and a strong hope that I'm allowed to share recipe-book recipes that I haven't invented myself!!), here is the recipe:
Rosemary Focaccia
Makes: one 12 x 18 inch flatbread
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours plus cooking time
Dried rosemary cannot be substituted for the fresh rosemary called for here because dried rosemary will burn.
1 russet potato (8 ounces), peeled & cut into 1-inch chunks
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/4 tsp table salt
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for the baking sheet
2 tbsp fresh rosemary
3/4 tsp course sea salt
1. Cover the potato with water in a small saucepan and simmer until completely cooked and easily pierced with a knife, 10-15 minute. Drain and, when the potato is cool enough to handle, grate it on the large holes of a box grater. You should have about 1 1/3 cups of lightly packed potato.
2. Mix 3 1/4 cups of the flour, yeast, and table salt together in a standing mixer* fitted with the dough hook (I don't have a stand mixer - see note). With the mixer on low speed, add the grated potato, water, and 2 tbsp of the oil until the dough comes together, about 1 minute.
3. Increase the speed to medium-low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (If, after 5 minutes, more flour is needed, add the remaining 1/4 cup flour, 1 tbsp at a time, until the dough clears the side of the bowl but sticks to the bottom).
4. Turn the dough out onto a clean counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball, about 1 minute. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place (I put mine in my oven, since I have a "proof" setting) until double in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
5. With wet hands, press and stretch the dough flat on a well-oiled 12 by 18 inch rimmed baking sheet. If it resists spreading to the corners, wrap it loosely with plastic wrap and wait a few minutes until the dough relaxes before trying again.
Wrap loosely in lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until it has nearly doubled in size and springs back slowly when indented with a finger, 45-60 minutes.
6. After the dough has risen on the baking sheet, adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Wet your fingers and press them into the dough at regular intervals to make about 24 dimples. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tbsp oil and sprinkle evenly with the rosemary and sea salt. Bake until the focaccia bottom is golden and crisp, 20-25 minutes.
7. Slide the focaccia onto a wire rack and let cool slightly before cutting into squares.
*Hand Mixing Method:
Cook, grate and measure the potato in Step 1.
Whisk 3 1/4 cups of the flour, the yeast and salt together in a large bowl.
Add the grated potato, water, and 2 tbsp of the oil and stir with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together and looks shaggy.
Turn the dough out onto a clean counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball, 10-15 minutes, adding the remaining 1/4 cup flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter.
Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise as directed in Step 4.
Variations:
Parmesan Focaccia
Substitute 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese for the rosemary and coarse sea salt.
(this is the one I did, as I didn't have fresh rosemary at the time)
Sage Focaccia
Add 1 tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves to the dough ingredients in Step 3 and substitute 24 whole fresh sage leaves for the rosemary. Press the sage leaves into the dimples.
Black Olive and Thyme Focaccia
Substitute 1 tsp fresh thyme and 24 large black olives, pitted, for the rosemary. Press the olives into the dimples.
(I really want to try this one out - I'm coming around to olives lately - but only in moderation!)
Ummm, so, I've tried to post a picture but apparently Blogger will only allow me to post pictures Portrait, not Landscape, sooo, that's a weird problem. I'll see what I can do to fix it.
Star-Reviewer Tom gives this recipe 5/5 chomps
