I can’t believe it’s Thursday already! This week feels like it’s flown by a bit fast. I’m guessing it’s because I have the two older boys in Vacation Bible School. Which means I’m down to one child in the mornings. Which means (do I really have to spell it out?) that I’m down to ONE child for three hours each morning! Sheer heaven I tell ya. And I love that this wonderful week falls smack dab in the middle of the summer break. Just when you think you can’t take one more day of fighting, mess, and “Mom, I’m booorrreeeddd”, WHAM!, like a fly swatter to the head, there it is, a three hour break.
And, what may you ask, have I done with this precious 15 hours of bliss so far? Have I gotten myself a hair cut? I know, I’ve had coffee with the girls. No wait, I’ve gone shopping; I must have done a little of that, right? Ummm…. would you believe I’ve done none of that? Although I will in fairness say, that I MUST get to the grocery store before the little rugrats are back 24/7, so tomorrow come hell or high water I’ll be there. No no my friends. What I actually do with all that free time is head back to the house and blog. And blog. And blog some more. Sad I know, but what can I tell you, I love my blog.
Bloggers Anonymous anyone?
If I’m going to spend all this time blogging for you, I might as well throw a recipe out there, right? Today’s flavor of the moment is one of my kid’s favorites for the sole purpose that it’s bread. Every night when I’m making dinner they ask if we’re having bread. They can’t get enough of the stuff and, to be honest, either can I. And no, we don’t have it every night. Bread baking takes some serious preparation which is definitely a good thing. I don’t know about you, but there are only so many days in the week when I can actually think of dinner time more than an hour before it’s supposed to be served.
This bread was actually prepared for our supper club this past weekend. I made two loaves because I knew the second my kids saw what I was making they would beg me into submission asking for a slice. And for good reason. I tell ya, this bread was GOOD. Just like the leading lady in a cheesy teenage chick flick, it had the beauty and the brains.
Good grief, can you tell I’m feeling a bit cheeky this morning? It’s time for me to zip my lip and move on to the reason we’re all here; foccacia. I can’t take credit for this recipe. It was taken from Pam’s Mediterranean Cooking Page. Here’s what you’ll need to pull this bread together:
Ingredients Needed:
1 Cup of Luke Warm Water
1 Tbsp of Olive Oil
1tsp of Sugar
1 tsp of Salt
2-1/4 Cups of Bread Flour
1 Pkg. of Yeast
2 Cloves of Garlic, Chopped
A Few Swirls worth of Olive Oil for Brushing on the Bread
One or Two Stalks of Fresh Rosemary
A Few Shakes of Black Pepper
A Few Shakes of Dried Basil
This recipe is set up for a bread maker, so if you have one, now would be the time to grab it. If you don’t, you can still whip this up. You’ll just need to mix the ingredients, knead it for a good 5-10 minutes and give it an additional rise until doubled in size.
Assuming you do have a bread machine, throw in the warm water, olive oil, sugar, salt, bread flour, and yeast according to the order the manufacturer suggests. In my case, I added them exactly in the order I listed them here, making a well in the flour to pour the yeast into at the end. Run your bread machine on the dough setting.
Once your dough is finished, pull it out of the bread maker (or join us after your first rise at this point), give it a few good kneads and then roll it out into your desired shape for your bread. After it’s rolled out, take your thumb and make some random indentations around the bread. Here’s mine rolled out with the thumb marks:
Grab a few sprigs of rosemary and stick one in each thumbed indentation.
Now, cover your bread with plastic cling and let it rise for another 45 minutes to an hour. I like to let mine rise in the oven with the light on. When your bread is finished rising, remove the cling wrap, place your bread in the cold oven if it isn’t already there, and turn it on to 375 degrees. Let your bread cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
And if this doesn’t make you crave bread, nothing will.
Hopefully everyone’s having a great summer so far and all you moms out there are finding an hour or two to yourself. If not, grab a book and a slice of this bread and go hide out in the bathroom – with the door locked – and your noise blocking earmuffs on. Enjoy.
Foccacia
Ingredients:
1 Cup of Luke Warm Water
1 Tbsp of Olive Oil
1tsp of Sugar
1 tsp of Salt
2-1/4 Cups of Bread Flour
1 Pkg. of Yeast
2 Cloves of Garlic, Chopped
A Few Swirls worth of Olive Oil for Brushing on the Bread
One or Two Stalks of Fresh Rosemary
A Few Shakes of Black Pepper
A Few Shakes of Dried Basil
Directions:
In your bread machine, throw in the warm water, olive oil, sugar, salt, bread flour, and yeast according to the order the manufacturer suggests. In my case, I added them exactly in the order I listed them here, making a well in the flour to pour the yeast into at the end. Run your bread machine on the dough setting.
Once your dough is finished, pull it out of the bread maker, give it a few good kneads and then roll it out into your desired shape for your bread. After it's rolled out, take your thumb and make some random indentations around the bread.
Grab a few sprigs of rosemary and stick one in each thumbed indentation.
Now, cover your bread with plastic cling and let it rise for another 45 minutes to an hour. When your bread is finished rising, remove the cling wrap, place your bread in the cold oven if it isn't already there, and turn it on to 375 degrees. Let your bread cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
I love focaccia and yours looks so delicious!
Cheers,
Lia.
Oh, that looks divine!! And I remember those days of having more than the alotted number of kids at one time and it WAS sheer heaven–enjoy!!
anne
http://www.anniebakes.net
I love making breads and this look wonderful! Those rosemary srpigs stuck in the indents 🙂
Mmmmmmm….this looks super yummy!! I'll probably have to eat mine in the bathroom for sure! LOL!
I made focaccia on Monday, except my recipe takes an eternity. The dough is made the previous day. I'm going to have to try yours since it's so much quicker. Bread is so very good. I think I could live off of it and nothing else.
Oh dear god, I can't take it. I can't take not being able to reach through the computer screen and eat that!!!
Lots of yummy love,
Alex aka Ma What's For Dinner
http://www.mawhats4dinner.com
Could this look any more amazing? I think not! I loved how you stuck the rosemary sprigs into the dough, what a great idea. This is perfect!
Beautiful! I have to go get the little one from camp now, and I what did I do with my free morning? Relax? No . . . Bake babka! And challah…
Your bread looks fantastic. I hope you enjoy this semi-quiet week. Have a great day. Blessings…Mary
i love focaccia bread!
It's so cute with the rosemary sticking out!!!
I looooved VBS as a kid. Enjoy your free time
Yummy! And I just happen to have a bread machine that needs a workout. Thanks…
I'm glad we're not the only bread-a-holics. Hooray for VBS!
Ha! My kids were at VBS a couple weeks ago–I didn't know what to do with myself!
That is some good-looking focaccia! I can almost smell it!
Julie, no it didnt go by fast. it's slow for me! (smile) i can't for tomorrow to be over. The focaccia looks awesome and rosemary is just so inviting to grab a bite!
That looks SO GOOD!
foccacia is good bread. foccacia with rosemary oh-so-artistically sticking out of it is phenomenal bread. 🙂
That looks too delicious! I've never made my own foccacia bread, but I certainly love to eat it – it's definitely one of my favorites! I've been looking for a good recipe for it lately too. Thanks for sharing.
SITS visiting & blog following – peace. 😉
Julie you're so funny. It's nice when you get one child to yourself, eh? I'm not looking forward to when everyone's in school though 🙁 I've got one year left until they both get on the bus to school.
I'm in bad need of a pedicure, hair cut, all those things but it's definately more fun to cook and write about it ;o) If it wasn't for girlfriends and MOMS Club getting me outta the house, I'd gladly stay home and bake and blog all day.
Popped in from Lady Bloggers! I've got an Italian recipe this would be wonderful with!