This is something I tend to do more in winter, but I was so inspired by the markets and their delish offerings yesterday, and it was a good warm day, perfect for raising dough….
The pic below is the black pepper, garlic and thyme focaccia I made yesterday, and it’s topped with fresh smoked mozzerella from the market (that stuff is amazing and almost deserves it’s own post, you can cook it like haloumi for goodness sake!)
Back to the bread…. making fresh bread is so freaking easy. Seriously. Once you do it for the first time you’ll be blown away by how simple and completely rewarding it can be to combine what is essentially four key ingredients…. (Flour, Active Dry Yeast, Water, Salt)
All bread recepies have slight variations, I love focaccia and it’s a great starter for your bread-making journey….
INGREDIENTS
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (NB: can sub wholemeal flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 pinch ground black pepper
METHOD
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil and black pepper. Mix in the vegetable oil and water.
When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Punch dough down; place on greased baking sheet. Pat into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Brush top with olive oil. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.
Some of my fav combos:
Rosemary, garlic, olive oil, salt
Thyme, mushrooms, olive oil, salt
Black olives, salt, olive oil
Semi dried tomatoes, feta, salt, olive oil
Seriously… Go nuts. Cooking and play are best friends, creating something totally new out of different ingredients is one of life’s simple pleasures.
NB: one of the first things I’ve learned about in my nutrition course is the way that ‘white flour’ is processed, this is why I’ve put the sub in for wholemeal flour. Another post coming to outline this.