A Family That Eats Together, Stays Together

Recipe of the Week:

Herb Foccacia Bread

3 1/3 cup white flour
1 envelope active dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp.)
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 ¼ cups warm water
3 tbsp. olive oil
Finely chopped fresh herbs like basil and rosemary (I often use dried basil or Italian spice mix instead)
Fresh chopped garlic (approx. 3 cloves)
Seasoning salt
Corn meal for sprinkling pan

Stir the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar together in a bowl. Slowly mix in the water and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to make a dough.
Add herbs and garlic and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the dough and lightly coat the bowl with oil.

Shape the dough into a ball, put it in the bowl, and turn the dough over. Cover with a dish towel and let rise until the dough doubles in volume. Grease a cookie sheet and sprinkle it with cornmeal.

*Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly. Cover with the upturned bowl and let stand for 10 minutes.
Roll and pat the dough into a rectangle and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Let rise for 15 minutes.

Using a lightly oiled finger, poke indentations all over the surface. Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil over and sprinkle lightly with seasoning salt. Bake in a preheated oven at 450’F for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

I sometimes let it rise in the pan much longer than 15 minutes so that it is fresh out of the oven when we eat. I started using canola oil instead of the very expensive olive oil. I also like to sprinkle the top with oregano and parmesan cheese.

To make bread sticks, I mix oil with seasoning salt in a bowl. I roll pieces of the dough into ropes and dip in the oil mixture to coat. Then I twist them and place on the pan to rise. The pan doesn’t need to be greased. I let them rise until it’s almost time to eat and then bake same as the bread.

*I don’t do this step.