Food and fun!!

Pretty much everyone I know is aware of my love for playing with food and recipes. I do like adding variety and getting creative with the ingredients, and a little increase or replacement of herbs and spices doesnt bother me much but I am certainly not a cooking guru by any means. Its just that my love for good food has taught me how to have fun in the kitchen and that is the primary reason behind my fondness for giving new interpretations to the classic recipes:)

A few months ago, I found a great recipe for Focaccia in the Cook’s Bible and have been playing with it ever since. Keeping the basic dough foundation of flour, yeast and water stay the same, Ive tried making it with various toppings and seasonings and have come up with great results each time.

Tomato-Rosemary Focaccia

Ingredients:

500 g flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary (Ive used 1 tsp dried leaves)
6 tbs + 1 tsp olive oil
300 ml luke warm water
6 sun dried tomatoes
1 tbs unsweetened condensed milk ( The original recipe calls for water and oil only but I prefer brushing with milk)
1 tsp sea salt (optional)


Take flour and salt in a bowl. Add in the dry yeast as well as the herbs.

Make a well in the centre and pour in the olive oil. Mix it quickly with a wooden spoon.

Start adding water and keep mixing roughly with the wooden spoon.

Dust the kitchen counter with some plain flour and transfer the dough onto it. Knead for about 2 minutes. The dough will have a sticky consistency but this is how you want it.

Make a round ball out of it and tranfer into a big bowl. With a knife, make a cut in the centre of the dough, cover and put aside in a warm place until double in size (approx. 2 hours).

 

Grease a baking tray. Transfer the dough once again onto a floured surface and punch it down using your fist. This will help removing the air bubbles. Knead for about a minute.

Spread on the greased tray using your hands. Cover with a wet kitchen towel and allow to rise again (approx. 1 hr).

Preheat the oven at 240C. Cut the tomatoes in strips. Mix 1 tbs oil with the milk, brush the dough with this mixture. Dip in your fingertips in the leftover mixture and dimple the flattened dough.

Arrange the sun dried tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with salt (optional).

Reduce oven temperature to 220C and bake the focaccia for 20 min or until golden brown on top.

Allow to cool on a kitchen wire for 5 min and serve.

Focaccia is a tasty, very easy to make bread and tastes great as a snack (check my previous post for ideas). You can also serve it as a side to any meal.