Bestest, Easiest, Yummiest DIY Focaccia Bread (+ link-up)


Food, Tasty Tuesday / Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

DSC05922-1

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. It’s been so popular amongst friends and family I’m sharing the recipe again with some updated pictures to showcase its amazing deliciousness. (And to make you drool)

This recipe is super simple and has many optional variations and uses. I thought it might be fun to make this a link-up post so others can share how they’ve used this base recipe and with your own adaptations. I’ll leave the link-up open so we can continue adding ways to use this awesome Focaccia bread.

There are so many ways to use Focaccia bread. 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. I’ve used coconut oil instead of olive oil, or melted butter, too. I like to sprinkle it with shredded cheese or exchange the rosemary for other herbs. I’ve also used a little wheat bread instead of all white bread flour. 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!
DSC05880-1

The magic is in the dough. I use my Zojirushi Mini Breadmaker ‘s “pasta dough” recipe for the dough part. Depending on the season, I watch it as it kneads and add flour or water/oil as needed so it’s not too sticky (too wet) or too crumbly (too much flour = dry and flaky)

BASE INGREDIENTS

  • 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
  • Coarse salt, if desired

Measure carefully, placing all ingredients except 3 tbs oil, the rosemary and coarse salt in 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.

DSC05883-1

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.

DSC05911-1

Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm, or cool on wire rack. Success tip: Be sure to 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.

DSC05924-1



2 Replies to “Bestest, Easiest, Yummiest DIY Focaccia Bread (+ link-up)”

    1. I ordered some whole wheat pastry flour so I’m excited to try this! Thanks, Sarah, And if you ever blog about yours on your “Tasty Thursdays” feel free to share it here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.