Focaccia Bread and Pizza
I've loved focaccia bread forever--there are so many varieties and toppings. I found a recipe from Fashionably Foodie that was a great starting point, but found I was always making adjustments, maybe because I don't use a bread maker. I played with the recipe and made my own dough last night, resulting in two small pizzas and a fabulous focaccia bread.
Focaccia Dough
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (or one packet)
1 cup water, separated into 1/3 cup warm water and 2/3 cup for later
1 tsp sugar
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
In a mixing bowl, mix the yeast, sugar, and 1/3 warm (but not HOT!) water. Slurry the yeast around until it incorporates a bit, then cover and leave in a warm place. I like to get my oven going at 475 at this point, so I'll cover the bowl and leave it on the oven top. Let sit for 10-15 minutes, or until the mix is frothy and has risen. (If nothing changes, your water may have been too hot!) The picture shows what it will look like after 10-15 minutes.
Add the rest of your water, salt, and about 2 cups of the flour. Mix with a wooden spoon until it forms a ball. Add flour as needed if it gets too sticky. When the dough is fully mixed and not sticky, knead it on a flour-covered surface for 3-5 minutes. Put the dough ball in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise for 20-30 minutes.
Now comes the fun part--choosing what you want to make!
I chose a garlic basil focaccia topped with salad and queso fresco.With a squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the top. YUM. When you make the focaccia, brush the top with olive oil before baking, and we added a few tablespoons of garlic (we LOVE garlic), salt, pepper, and fresh basil. The salad goes on later. I never thought of adding salad to the top of a pizza, but got the idea from the Food Network. You cook the focaccia and then add the salad a minute or two later. I like feta or goat cheese better, but had the queso fresco on hand and it was great.
The pizza we topped with a homemade red sauce, canadian bacon, grated zucchini, garlic, onion, and mozzarella. I put it in a round metal pan greased with lots of olive oil to get that nice, crisp crust. For the boys, we rolled out a small pizza on the pizza stone and just added sauce, mozarella, and canadian bacon.
This dough is a little different than my normal pizza dough (the notable difference being olive oil), but it worked really well. I rolled it out on the pizza stone, which meant it was a little thinner and crispier. This recipe can make one large thing, two small ones, or three pretty small ones, which is what we did. Rob, the boys, and I polished off two small pizzas and the focaccia. We like our carbs. And our toppings. Arugula is one of my faves, along with roasted red peppers and maybe sun-dried tomatoes.
What are some of your favorite pizza or focaccia toppings?
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