Greek Foccacia Bread Recipes

MICHAEL'S FOCCACIA BREAD

Steps:

• Dissolve honey in the warm water in a large bowl, then sprinkle yeast over the top. Let stand for 5 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to foam. Stir in 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil, onions, and 5 cups of flour until the dough comes together. Knead on a well floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. 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 until doubled in volume, about 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 415 degrees F (215 degrees C).
• Place dough onto oiled baking sheet, and flatten to cover the whole sheet evenly. Use the tips of your fingers to make indentations all over the dough spaced about 1 inch apart. Drizzle the focaccia with 3 tablespoons olive oil, then sprinkle rosemary, Parmesan cheese, and remaining 1 tablespoon of kosher salt over the top. Let rise for 10 minutes
• Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes until golden brown.

HOMEMADE FOCACCIA BREAD

Steps:

• Combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Mix well. Heat water and vegetable oil until warm, and add to yeast mixture along with the egg. Blend with an electric mixer at low speed until moistened. Beat for 2 additional minutes. Stir in 1 3/4 cup flour while beating, until dough pulls away from side of bowl.
• Knead in 3/4 cup flour on floured surface. Cover dough with a bowl, and let sit for 5 minutes. Place dough on a greased baking sheet. Roll out to 12 inch circle. Cover with greased plastic wrap and a cloth towel. Place in a warm place for 30 minutes.
• Uncover dough, and poke holes in it with a spoon handle at 1 inch intervals. Drizzle olive oil on dough, and sprinkle with crushed rosemary.
• Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 17 to 27 minutes, until just golden. Remove from baking sheet, and cool on rack.

GREEK FOCCACIA BREAD

Steps:

• if you don't keep roasted garlic around you can easily make it by trimming off the top of a whole garlic bulb, just enough to expose the cloves, make a little cup around it with a 6 inch piece of tin foil, drizzle a spoonful or two of olive oil into the exposed cloves, wrap it up and bake at 375f for some 45 min or until soft. it makes the house smell so good and makes it so easy to add lovely healthy garlic to everything i often keep a head in the fridge. just squeeze out of the skin and you can do whatever with it.
• mix yeast, sugar, and water, set aside till it starts bubbling suspiciously. if your yeast is really fresh keep an eye on it or it will bubble over, you want it to just start bubbling so all that rising power goes into the bread itself. btw, yeast should be kept in the fridge in an airtight container once opened and not for more then 3 months or it wont rise properly anymore. i'm testing what happens with longer term storage in the freezer.
• mix the flour with the herbs, olives, cheese, garlic, and salt in a big bowl.
• add the yeast mixture and the oil to the flour mix and stir till a soft dough forms. it'll be really sticky at first but that's ok. try to keep it mostly in a lump and not on your hands. sprinkle with a few handfuls of flour and kneed until it's pliable and elastic but still soft.
• let rise in a warm place, covered with a clean towel until doubled in size (about 45 min) if my house is cold i sometimes turn the oven knob just until the burner clicks on-not even to 170f which is our lowest, let it heat while i knead the dough and clean up and then turn it off before putting the bowl (totally wrapped in a towel in case the racks are too hot for the plastic) in the oven and leaving the door closed to keep warm. i've also had good results with setting the bowl on the burner the oven vents out of with the oven on a low setting and a pot holder under the bowl but then my cats can get into it.
• once it's risen punch down the dough and kneed a little more, you might need to add a bit more flour to keep it workable and not too sticky but don't add so much that it becomes hard to knead. it takes some practice to get the feel for the texture thing but this is a fairly forgiving recipe so don't worry about it too much.
• divide in two and form into two smooth, round loaves about 1 inch thick, coat in a bit more olive oil and place on a greased cookie sheet, remember that they'll double in size again so give them room to expand. if you want you can freeze the dough at this point and when you thaw in the fridge it will do it's second rise at the same time.
• let rise to double the size again, be aware that the second rise sometimes goes a lot faster then the first and heavily over-proofed bread ends up with large air pockets that collapse after baking.
• bake at 325f for 30 min or so or until it sounds hollow when tapped gently. if it's getting too brown turn the temp down to 310f. when done they should be just golden.
• let cool for 15 min or until you can handle easily. if you want a soft crust instead of a crispy one you can brush with a bit more oil after baking. this is a very soft bread so use a serrated knife to cut (ala sawing) and try not to press down too hard or you'll crush it,.
• serve with butter or a shallow dish of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

FOCACCIA BREAD

Steps:

• 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.