Focaccia is a traditional Italian flatbread. The name comes from the Latin focus or foculus, which can translate as hearth, fire-pan or brazier. The bread has a spongy interior and a golden, lightly-crusted exterior. Loaves are usually circular, 10 - 12 inches in diameter and about two inches high. Focaccia is an adaptable bread as it can be topped with almost anything. Cheese, herbs and tomatoes and olives, however, are some of the more common types found outside of Italy. Some claim that focaccia is the predecessor of pizza. As ethnic cuisines have become more popular in recent decades, so have a variety of breads. As a result, focaccia bread can now be found fetching quite a price in popular cafés and bakeries.

How to Make It

While it is true that some breads rely on precise measurements and require you to follow rather detailed instructions, focaccia is pretty forgiving. As long as you get the amounts of the main ingredients close to right and give the dough some sort of time to rise, you'll be ok.

This recipe is for a herbed cheese focaccia. You could easily leave off the cheese for herb focaccia, or leave out the herbs for cheese focaccia. You are also welcome to play with the herb combinations and amounts. Suggested cheeses are grated white or yellow cheddar, crumbled gorgonzola, provolone, and asiago¹.

Ingredients

• Two 7 gram packages of active, dry yeast
• One cup of warm water
• Two cups of flour (all-purpose or bread flour)
• Two tablespoons olive oil
• One teaspoon of salt
• Two teaspoons dried rosemary
• Two teaspoons garlic powder
• 1½ teaspoons dried thyme
• One teaspoon dried sage
• One teaspoon of black pepper (fresh cracked if you have it)
• ¾ - 1 cup of cheese, total of all varieties
• Olive oil for brushing on

Method

• Preheat your oven to 475°F/246°C/9 Marks. Stir the yeast into the warm water in a large bowl. Allow yeast to 'prove' (about ten minutes - it will look creamy). Add olive oil, and then stir in half the flour until mixed thoroughly. In a small bowl, combine herbs, salt and pepper with the remaining flour and add to the mixture in the large bowl. Stir until the dough pulls together (it will tend to form a large ball in the centre of your bowl). The dough will remain sticky, so coat your hands and a surface (countertop, table - anything hard, flat, and near waist height) with flour before kneading.

• Remove the dough from bowl and knead² it on the floured surface until the dough is smooth, soft and no longer sticky, which will take about ten minutes.

• Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Roll the dough in the bowl so that the dough is covered lightly in oil all over. This will make it easy to remove after it has risen. Cover the bowl with a damp towel³ and allow the dough to rise in a warm place. If you have a gas stove, setting the bowl between the burners (not turned on, of course) works well, as the heat from the pilot light is sufficient to let the bread rise. In some electric stoves, it is warm enough in the oven when the light is on - just the light. In any case, your spot should be free from drafts and 80 - 90°F or 27 - 30°C. Leave it until it has doubled in size, which will take 1-1½ hours.

• Punch down (deflate) the dough in the bowl, then remove it and form it into a circular loaf. Place the loaf on a baking sheet dusted with flour or cornmeal. Make indentations on the top of the loaf using your fingers, leaving depressions about ½ to 1 inch deep. Add grated or thinly sliced cheese ⁴ on top, filling the depressions. Gently and lightly brush olive oil on top of the cheese and over the edges of the dough that are not covered. Place the baking sheet on the oven rack and bake until golden-brown, approximately 20 minutes.

• When the bread is finished, remove it and place it immediately on a wire rack to cool. Lightly brush the entire surface area of the bread with olive oil, including the bottom. This keeps the bread from having a hard crust. If you like a hard crust, simply omit this step.

What Can I Do With All This Bread?

Eat it!

You can dip focaccia in herb-infused olive oil, plain olive oil or olive oil seasoned with salt and pepper. You can dip it in marinara sauce or ranch dressing. Impress your friends by serving it to them at an otherwise average dinner party. If you're low on cash, give it as a gift. It makes great picnic food with a bottle of wine. You can cut it in half (horizontally) and use it to make fancy-style sandwiches that would cost you an arm and a leg in some trendy lunch spot. When you get really excited about Italian cooking, you can make yourself a full-fledged Italian dinner and enjoy your focaccia with Caesar salad, a bowl of minestrone and Spaghetti alla Carbonara. If you just get tired of it, cut it into cubes and dry it in the oven to make croutons!

Bellissima! Enjoy.