Focaccia Bread Recipe

Mama Redbuck bakes up a delicious, Italian flat bread—Focaccia!  When you pull it hot out of the oven it’s hard—HARD—not to eat the whole thing, so good luck.  Thanks for watching, and for more cooking videos check out the Chef Buck Playlist at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2EFBD7E8FE2BB552

Focaccia Bread Recipe

ingredients:

3 ½ cups all-purpose FLOUR

1 ¼ tsp KOSHER SALT

1 Tbsp INSTANT YEAST

1 ½ cup warm WATER (approx. 130 degrees F)

1 ½ large sweet ONION (diced)

4-6 cloves GARLIC (finely chopped)

¼ cup JALAPENO (diced)

1 cup OLIVES –black, green, or both (chopped)

¼ cup PEPPERONCINI (chopped)

1 cup CHEESE (grated parmesan, asiago, and romano)

1-2 Tbsp fresh ROSEMARY (finely chopped)

approx. 6-7 Tbsp OLIVE OIL

directions:

Sift 3½ cups of ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR and combine in a mixing bowl with SALT and YEAST.  Add WARM WATER (approx. 130 degrees F) and mix contents of bowl for 1 minute in mixer.  Remove dough.  In a 9X13 baking pan greased with 1-2 Tbsp OLIVE OIL, spread dough flat.  Cover and allow dough to rise for 45-60 minutes.

While dough rises, chop and prep topping ingredients.  Take time to sauté the onions and garlic well.  Feel free to use more or less ingredients—this combo is terrific—but experiment according to your tastes (I bet a little sundried tomato would be awesome).

After bread has risen, uncover and drizzle the top of the dough with 2 Tbsp OLIVE OIL.  My mama sticks the end of her thumb into the dough all along the top to create an interesting (or not quite interesting) pattern; this is something you can do, too, if you’re retired with a lot of free time on your hands, but it’s not necessary.

Sprinkle and spread toppings evenly over the dough.

Place the bread in an oven pre-heated to 375 degrees F and bake approx. 35-40 minutes.

Remove bread from oven and let rest 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Take care not to eat it all right away because you’ll want some for later.

Enjoy.