Homemade rosemary focaccia was a feature of our lunch last week and we're obliging requests for the recipe. We confess, however, that this is our mother's recipe and yes, she made our lunch during our visit last week. Hurray for moms who cook!
This recipe is a dead-easy yeast bread in the manner of the Italian flatbread focaccias often baked in wood ovens, similar to the French fougasse (which, oddly enough, we had as an appetizer at a French restaurant last night). This one is a snap even if you're new to working with yeast, needs almost no rising time, and is very hard to mess up. Try it and see!
This also multiplies very well - our large family, growing up, could go through a couple batches in a single meal.
Rosemary Focaccia
2 9-inch flat loaves
1 cup warm water (at about 115-120ºF)
1 tablespooon sugar
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, divided
2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh sage leaves
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
Topping
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Extra finely chopped rosemary, to taste
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Mix the warm water, sugar and yeast and let the yeast bubble for a moment of two. Whisk in the salt, olive oil, and 1 1/2 cups of the flour. Add the rest of the flour and the herbs and pepper and mix with a spoon.
Turn out on the counter with a little extra flour and knead by hand (or keep in the bowl and beat with the dough hook on the KitchenAid mixer) until smooth and elastic - at least 5-8 minutes. Divide dough in half and let rest for a few minutes.
Heat the oven to 400ºF. Prepare two 9-inch plates by oiling with olive oil. Pat each dough half into the prepared plate, easing the dough out to the sides. Let rest for a few more minutes and then dot with fork tines all over. Brush each with the olive oil for the topping. Mix the rosemary, salt and Parmesan and sprinkle over each pan.
Let rise 10-15 minutes (depending on how quickly you need to get this and the rest of dinner on the table. She's tried just baking it almost immediately after adding the topping, and everyone seems happy with this.)
Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cut in wedges. Great for dipping and for sandwiches too.
I had the best foccaccia at a little restaurant
view art's profile
oops....that's what I get for commenting and working at the same time. It would be funny if that was my whole comment though--ok not really.
I had the best foccaccia at a little restaraunt called Riccardo Trattoria in Chicago. The bread arrives warm with thin dark, almost black, green lines across the top. After close examination the lines are the skin from paper thin slices of zucchini that are laid across the top of the foccaccia before it is baked with a delicate layer of parmesan cheese. The tiny bit of water that is leached from the zucchini while baking results in a pleasingly moist foccaccia unlike any other I have tasted.
view art's profile
If I don't have a kitchenaid mixer, or any kind of stand mixer, can this still be done? I've never made any kind of bread before, but since you promise I can't screw this up I thought I'd give it a try :) I have a hand held mixer with the whisks on it, but that's it, will that work?
view bluestar's profile
bluestar - absolutely. I wouldn't use your hand mixer at all, though. Just use a hand whisk for the yeast and first part of the flour. Then stir in the rest of the flour with a spoon, until it gets thick.
After that, turn the dough out onto the counter with a little extra flour to keep it from sticking and knead it by hand. Slap the dough down, double it up, lean on it, and repeat until it's smooth and elastic.
I modified the recipe instructions to make this a little clearer too. If you try it, come back and let us know how it turns out!
view faith's profile
I am whipping it up right now. I threw some sunflower seeds on top cause I had them and I substituted 1 cup all purpose for whole wheat flour. My house smells amazing. Ill let you know.
view bmoviemagee's profile
Lovely recipe, kind of reminds me of this one only yours looks a lot better!
view Jim of ChewOnThat's profile
since the recipe implies the yeast will bubble relatively quickly, i'm guessing the dry yeast is 'instant' yeast rather than 'regular active'?
any knowledgeable folks know if i need to take extra steps for non-instant yeast?
view lindsey kathlene's profile