Rosemary - Italian focaccia bread

 Wanting a quick flat bread to go with our Italian Dinner, I turned to focaccia bread.  This super easy recipe based off of King Arthur Flours basic recipe can be altered to suit your own tastes. Use different seasonings, different toppings! heck, you can even turn it into a pizza;  so versatile and super EASY.  I love that you can use the regular paddle attachment and have the dough ready for rise in under 5 mins from start to mixer.  My one suggestion is brushing with melted butter when its fresh from the oven if you are serving to a whole crowd for quick consumption.  I think a vegetable garden seasoning with cheddar cheese sounds great too.  so many combinations to be made! Enjoy ~Diane.


Rosemary, Italian Focaccia Bread

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil (to drizzle onto pan or cookie sheet)
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 tablespoons olive oil (for the dough)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon instant yeast
3 teaspoons italian seasoning 
1/4 cup romano/parm mix shredded hard cheese
1 Tbs fresh minced rosemary, plus leaves for topping.
6-8 slices of sun dried tomato in oil *optional 

Directions: 
1) Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, or cookie sheet by drizzling 2 tablespoons olive oil in the bottom.

2) Combine all of the ingredients, and beat at high speed with regular paddle attachment, with an electric mixer for 60 seconds.

3) Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, cover the pan, and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes, till it's become puffy. I set in my oven that was heated to 170 and then turned off...I remove 5 mins before baking so I can preheat my oven. 

4) While the dough is rising last 5 mins., preheat the oven to 375°F.

5) Gently poke the dough all over with your index finger.

6) Drizzle it lightly with olive oil and brush around top, and sprinkle extra seasoning, and/or the dried herbs of your choice, if desired.

7) Bake the bread until it's golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.

8) Remove it from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe Adapted from: King Arthur Flour, No Fuss Focaccia
Photo by: Diane Baker for Canning and Cooking at Home

---