Easy Focacia Bread

A few years ago, I shared a Rosemary Focaccia Bread Recipe from Betty Crocker’s Best Bread Machine Cookbook: The Goodness of Homemade Bread the Easy Way. It’s easy, quick, and wonderfully delicious. We eat it plain, especially if my husband is around after it’s done baking. Or we save it for sandwiches or butter it as a nice accessory to a spaghetti dinner. You can adapt this recipe in many ways. I’ve used coconut oil instead of olive oil, or melted butter too. I like to sprinkle it with shredded cheese (as pictured below) or exchange the rosemary for other herbs. I’ve also used a little wheat bread instead of all white bread flour. It doesn’t work quite as well but it’s edible still. It’s very versatile and makes for a great side to bring to family or social gatherings. But you might have to make a few batches as it gets eaten up very quickly!

 1 Focaccia, 8 servings

¾ cups water, 2 tbs olive/veg. oil, 2 cups bread flour, 1 tbs sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 ½ tsp bread machine/quick active dry yeast, 3 tbs olive/veg. oil,  2-3 tbs chopped fresh rosemary leaves, and Coarse salt, if desired 

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients except 3 tbs oil, the rosemary and coarse saltin bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough/Manual cycle. Do not use delay cycles.Remove dough from pan, using lightly floured hands.  (I actually just turned it upside down onto the baking sheet)  Cover and let rise in warm place about 30 minutes or until almost double. Heat oven to 400’ F.  Make depressions in dough at 1-inch intervals with fingertips.  Drizzle with 3 tbs oil. Sprinkle with rosemary and coarse salt.  Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm, or cool on wire wrack.  Success tip: Be sureto chop the rosemary leaves instead of leaving them whole.  They can become dry quickly during baking, which makes them sharper and can be unsafe to swallow.  Do-Ahead Note:  After you have patted the dough into a circle on the cookie sheet, cover it with plastic wrap.  You can refrigerate it from 4 hours up to 48 hours.  Before baking, remove the dough from the fridge and remove plastic wrap.  Cover with kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours or until it is almost double.  Then continue as the recipe tells you. 

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