Focaccia Caprese

As I unwrap this amazing wonder from Laurel's kitchen, the aroma from yesterday's focaccia still hovers over my mind. The house was filled with the heavenly fragrance. Yeast was devouring its food and gluten was boasting its control. Read this article to find out how the aroma of fresh baked bread can make us kinder to strangers.

Bread means something more to me. As Vikrant parsai rightly said, "If you find bread and water in the desert, you are bound to find God somewhere too".  I can not agree more. 

And what a bread it was! So delicious, soft, flavorful and easy to make. I had it with tomato and spinach soup and it was a sumptuous meal. Then I had it again for breakfast today. I was very satisfied with the outcome of this bread. I have stumbled upon Focaccia Caprese quite a few times. Fellow bloggers post this bread often and I wanted to bake this bread for a long time now. If only, we would do what we wanted to do there and then. I know that day will come in my life. 

Focaccia is my favorite bread. I have posted different focaccias (Masala Focaccia, Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia) before and all were delicious. I have baked them over and over again and they have never disappointed me. 

I will soon start taking deeper dives into the bread book and will bring a lot more wonderful breads to you. Till then, have fun with this focaccia caprese and let me know if it amazed you the way it amazed me. 

Focaccia Caprese

Recipe Adapted from: Aparna

Makes 2 Focaccias

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1. 3 1/2 cup (450 g) bread flour (I used all purpose flour and it turned out just fine)

2. 2 tsp active dry yeast/instant yeast (you will have to proof the active dry yeast before mixing it)

3. 1 tsp salt

4. 1 1/2 tbsp sugar

5. 1/4 cup olive oil + some for greasing

6. 1 - 1 1/2 cup (240 - 360 ml ) warm water

For the topping:

1. 3 - 4 ripe large tomatoes - slice them

2. 15-16 pieces of fresh mozzarella (I didn't have mozzarella and used cottage cheese, worked well)

3. fresh basil leaves to sprinkle and garnish on top (I didn't have fresh basil so I increased the dry basil in the herb oil)

For the herb oil:

1. 1 tsp garlic paste

2. 1/4 cup olive oil

3. 1 tsp red chilly flakes

4. 1 tsp dry oregano

5. 1 1/2 tsp dry basil

6. salt to taste

Steps to prepare dough:

1. Proof the yeast first. Dissolve a pinch of sugar in 1/2 cup of lukewarm water. Now dissolve the yeast in it. Keep this mixture aside covered with a towel for 5-7 minutes.

2. Sieve the salt, sugar and flour together. Add olive oil and yeast to the flour. Now add water slowly and keep mixing the flour meanwhile. Amount of water you need will depend on the quality of flour, humidity etc.

Mix and knead the dough till the point it becomes soft, elastic and just short of being sticky. I needed about 1 1/4 cup of water.

3. Grease a bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it. Cover the bowl and let it proof for one hour.

Steps to prepare the herb oil:

1. Mix all the ingredients together and keep aside. 

Steps to make the bread:

1. Preheat the oven to 210 degree Celsius.

2. Take out the dough and divide in into two parts. Take a baking try and cover it foil. Grease the foil with olive oil. Now bring the dough pieces to rectangular shapes and to a thickness of about an inch. You can shape the dough with your hand to give the bread a rustic shape. Poke the dough with fingers on regular intervals to give it a classic dimpled effect. Let it rise for 20 minutes.

3. Brush the bread with herb oil. Bake it for about 15-20 minutes or till it turn golden brown.

4. Brush the bread with herb oil again. Place the cheese and tomatoes on the top. Drizzle the remaining herb oil on the top of the bread. Bake it again till the cheese starts melting or for about 5-7 minutes.

5. Serve hot.

  Have fun baking and eating :)

Submitted for YeastSpotting

Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia

Yes, I accept. I am on a bread expedition. No, I am not mad. :)

I have made Masala Focaccia and then The Perfect White Loaf. How can I not make another focaccia when the previous one turned out so well! Believe me its not just Mar*****a, bread baking also is addictive (all pun intended).

I always turn to Jamie Oliver if I have to find any full proof recipe. Oh, how much I love him! His food is wholesome, simple and gives warmth. He is trying to do a good deed. He wants people, specially young generation, to eat good and healthy food. He has taken up so many initiatives to achieve that. He has been to schools and colleges just to educate people that a school lunch could be a lot more healthy and nutritious. He has taught the people of UK to prepare their own meals (initiatives like 15 minute meals) and have taught them about healthy food. Another such initiative is a two level course designed specially for students to learn cooking and eat healthy. This recipe is from this course. I wish him good luck and hope he achieves what he is aiming. I share similar views. I feel that if we cook food at home more frequently, we will be having much more healthy meals. I want to encourage all my friends to start cooking at home and start eating a lot more healthy. Cooking and eating at home also brings families together.

Bread making process is a symphony for me. It is a therapeutic and a satisfying process such as writing and poetry. I am myself when I write. I am myself when I am making bread. It brings easiness and comfort to my life. Each creation is close to my heart. Okay, let me not get too poetic. I have another blog for poetry and writing so you guys are safe. :)

So tell me! What's better than fresh home made focaccia drizzled with olive oil? Don't think so much. Nothing. :)

Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia
Adapted from Jamie Oliver Course

Ingredients:
1. 500 g all purpose flour + extra for dusting
2. 312 ml water (water should neither be too hot nor cold, I warm up the water in microwave oven for about 25-30 seconds)
3. 3 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
4. 1 tbsp sugar
5. 1 tbsp salt + extra to sprinkle
6. 1/4 to 1/2 tsp black pepper (as per your taste)
7. 7-8 garlic cloves
8. 1 tsp dry rosemary
9. olive oil for greasing and drizzling

Proofing

As always start with proofing the yeast. Meanwhile you can measure out your ingredients. Proofing means activating the yeast so that it can eat upon carbohydrates and release carbon dioxide which will puff up your bread. To proof the yeast, mix the sugar in about 100 ml water. Sugar is the food for yeast. Now dissolve the yeast in the water by mixing it with a spoon. When it seems to have dissolved or have formed a semi solid paste, keep it aside for 5-10 minutes. If the top of the yeast has foam or bubbly layer, it has activated and is ready to use. If there are no bubbles, keep it for a few more minutes.

Mixing the Ingredients

Now sieve the flour and flour together. Make a well with the flour. Pour half of the water in the well. Now using a fork or your hands bring the flour from the walls of the well inside. It will start to form a spongy mixture. Now add the remaining half of the water in the well and mix well. The dough would have formed a sticky ball by now. You are ready to knead the dough.

Kneading

Flour the work surface and start kneading the dough. I have explained the importance and details of the kneading process in my previous post, The Perfect White Loaf. Kindly refer to that. I kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes and then took the window pane test. It was perfect.

The First Rise

Grease a bowl with olive oil and place the dough in it. Cover it with a damp tea towel and keep somewhere warm to rise. I kept it inside my oven. Let it rest for about an hour or till the dough gets double in size.

The Herb Seasoning

This step is basically preparing the garlic and rosemary that will go on top of your bread. Punch down the garlic cloves with the back of a knife or anything heavy. Now drizzle olive oil on the garlic and rosemary and sprinkle some salt and pepper to season them. Crush the garlic and rosemary together using your hand so that they blend into each others flavor.

Punching


Check if the dough has doubles in size. If yes, it is ready to be punched. Punching the dough will remove the big air holes and will give yeast fresh flour to feed upon. It will add to the texture and flavor of the bread. Punch the dough to push out the air. Knead the dough again for 3-4 minutes.

The Second Rise

Grease a 9x7 inch tin in which you plan to bake the bread. Place the dough in it and using your hands pull out the dough to cover the corners and sides of the pan. Spread the cloves and rosemary on the dough and push them in using your fingers. Poke the bread with your wet fingers to give the bread a simply authentic focaccia texture. Drizzle olive oil on the top of the bread. Remember that a good focaccia has a good amount of olive oil in it. Keep the dough covered with a damp tea towel again for its second rise. Let it rest for about an hour or till it doubles in size.

Baking

Preheat your oven to 220 degree Celsius. If you feel the bread has lost the dimply texture because of rising, poke it with wet fingers again. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the top of it.
Keep it inside the oven for 15-20 minutes or untill it gets a golden crunchy top. It took about 15 minutes for the bread to cook. To check if it is cooked you can also tap the bottom of the bread and see if it sounds hollow.

Cooling and Slicing

After taking the pan out of the oven, take the bread out of the pan immediately so that it does not get soggy. Place it on the steel grill that comes with the oven. If you keep the bottom on a plate or any other surface which does not let air pass through, it will get soggy. Cut the bread in any shape of your liking. I cut it in long slices and had it with olive oil.

The bread was soft and light on the inside and crunchy on the outside.  It had the smoky flavor of garlic and the rosemary was working well with it. This recipe is definitely a keeper. You can replace the garlic and rosemary with herbs of your choice. You can eat it with butter, mayonnaise or any cheese dip. I just love to have it simply with olive oil.

So enjoy baking the bread and then eating it. Hope to bring some more delicious recipes to you.

Submitted for YeastSpotting

Masala Focaccia

I love baking bread. There is no other reason for me to make this recipe apart from my ever increasing love for baking breads and then eating them. Finally I am able to overpower the yeast and it has started becoming a friend of mine. Whenever I see the glass of yeast with bubbles over the surface, I start smiling. Or whenever I see that the dough is rising as expected or the bread is rising in the oven or the bubbles in the dough as I roll it out, I am the most happy person on this planet.

Focaccia is one of my favorites. This is a classic focaccia recipe with a masala twist. A very light and delicious bread with a mesmerizing coriander flavor.  It tasted amazing and was over within an hour. I could just manage to take pictures of a small piece of the bread .

Let me take you through the recipe.  

Masala Focaccia
Serves: 4
Adapted from : Tadka Pasta

Ingredients:
1. 1 1/4 cup (140 g) all purpose flour
2. 1/2 cup (65 g) whole wheat flour
3. 3/4 cup (180 g) lukewarm water
4. 2 tsp yeast
5. 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
6. 3 tbsp olive oil + olive oil to drizzle
7. 3/4 tsp salt
8. 3 green chilly
9. 2 red onion
10. handful of chopped coriander

First step is proofing the yeast. Dissolve the sugar in the lukewarm water. Make sure that the water is lukewarm, it should neither be cold nor hot to touch. If the water is too cold, yeast won't activate and if the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast. Now dissolve the yeast in it. Keep this mixture aside covered with a towel for 5-7 minutes.

Meanwhile heat a table spoon of oil in a pan. Fry the finely chopped red onion, green chilly and coriander in the oil for a minute or so. Let it sit on the side to cool down.

If the yeast is active (it should have bubbles/foam on the top of it), it is ready to use. Else let it sit for some more time. Sift the flour and salt together. Now put in the sauteed onion and coriander into the flour. Add the yeast to the flour while constantly beating with a wooden spatula. Mix properly till all the ingredients seem to have well blended.

Take a 9x9 or 8x8 baking pan and line it with parchment paper. Now cover the inside of the parchment paper with 2 tablespoon of olive oil. Transfer the dough into the baking pan with the help of a spatula. Using the spatula or wet fingers, spread the dough evenly on the surface of the pan. You will have to spread it out to the edges. Now cover the pan with a towel and keep it in a warm place for an hour or so. Poke the surface of the dough with wet fingers for the classic focaccia and drizzle good amount of olive oil. I drizzled about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Preheat an oven to 180 degree Celsius and keep the baking pan inside the oven at the middle level.
Bake the bread for about 25 minutes or till it is golden brown.

Take the baking pan out and let the bread cool down for a few minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the bread to make sure it is not stuck to the pan. Take it out and remove the parchment paper. If you have used oil generously it would come out very clean.

Cut and serve hot along with mayonnaise or any cheesy dip.

It was a very light, flavorful, soft and an olivy focaccia. It is a recipe which I will make over and over again. Its a conquest for me in the world of breads and definitely spot on in terms of taste and flavors.