Focaccia

Another several-month-old request this week, and also another dinner-accompanying bread instead of the usual sandwich-appropriate loaf. Exciting!

To start out, mix together 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of yeast, and 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast. Add 1 cup of warm water, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and stir (incidentally, it seems like 90% of the bread recipes I've seen don't just say "stir"... they quite particularly dictate that you "stir with a wooden spoon". Why is that? What difference could that possibly make?) Add in and then knead in about another 1 1/4 cups of flour, then use some olive oil to coat a bowl. Put the dough in the bowl, cover, and let sit for the


First - and only - rising (2 hours)
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Hmm....you know, not all that much has happened since last Wednesday. Let's see...I signed a lease to a new apartment (moving across town in early August!). Oh, and I've started taking piano lessons. The three years in between sophomore year of college and now must be the longest amount of time, since I first started learning on one of those 1/4-size violins, that I've gone without some sort of formal musical instruction, and I think that was starting to feel weird to me. So, anyway, we'll see how that goes.

But other than that, not much other than work and preparing for the Qual (the subject of a future post, I'm sure). Sorry, short post this week.
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Punch the dough down, and divide it into four pieces. Roll each piece into a vaguely circular shape with a rolling pin. Let the dough rest for five minutes, and then roll out again (the dough will be much more pliable the second time around). Put on a greased cookie sheet, and again let rest for a few minutes. Next, with your fingertips, make little indentations all over the top of each piece. Other than an aesthetic effect at the end of the day I'm not sure what this accomplishes, but it sure is fun.


Set the oven to 425 degrees. While it is heating up, though, brush each focaccia with olive oil, and then sprinkle with salt, sage, basil, and rosemary. Put the sheet in the oven, and immediately lower the temperature setting to 375 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes.

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Tasting notes: Solid. Not quite as good as Mom's focaccia, but pretty tasty. A bit too dense, but otherwise the texture is nice, and the crust came out just as crispy as I'd hoped. Also, rosemary is awesome.