The weirdest thing has been happening to me this lockdown period. From about 9 pm I get the urge to bake bread. I just want to get up and start kneading bread. It doesn’t help that it seems like the whole world seems to be baking bread at home right now too.

All over my IG timeline it’s been sourdough bread (I will be making my starter tonight) and recently Focaccia.

Last night like clock work, after watching Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” documentary on Netflix I started craving Focaccia. I remembered I have lots of garlic at home, I grow rosemary and garlic chives in the garden plus I have this great bottle of olive oil .

So off I went to the garden with my phone torch, nipped some rosemary and garlic chives. I roasted some garlic and infused them in olive oil. I even roasted some tomatoes because I don’t have sundried tomatoes (ended up burning them twice)

I went to bed dreaming about baking my own Focaccia for the first time!

I read at least 7 different recipes before deciding which ones to adopt, and a couple of IG videos. Watching the dimpling of the bread is so satisfying 😁

Beyond burning my roasted tomato topping, I nailed this bread completely, if I do say so myself. Oh and I tried some Focaccia art too 🤣🤣🤣.

Recipe

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced

• 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

• 1 tbsp chopped fresh chives

• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

• 3/4 cup warm water

• 2 tsp active dry yeast

• 1/4 tsp honey (or sugar)

• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Procedure

– Infuse the herbs in the oil. To do this, I chopped roasted garlic, rosemary and chives into the olive oil and left it over night. (Because I didn’t chop up my herbs finely, blended them together with an immersion blender when I was ready to use). You can speed this up by heating up the oil and herbs in a pan slowly and turning off just before the herbs burn.

– Activate the yeast. Add the honey or sugar to the warm water and leave to rest till it froths at the top. If you are certain your yeast is active, you can skip activating it just add to the mix.

– Combine the flour and sea salt and black pepper.

– Mix in half of the herb oil, all the other wet ingredients till it combines well and start to knead.

– Knead till smooth for about 10 mins. Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover the bowl with a cling wrap. Put it in a warm oven or the warm corner of your kitchen and leave to rise to double its size. This might take about

– When it has risen, Grease a pan. Punch down the dough and knead for another 10 minutes. Now press it into the pan till it spreads evenly.

– Now spread the remaining herb oil over the dough and use your fingers to press holes into it.

– Leave to rise again for 30 minutes to an hour.

– Preheat oven to 350°F.

– Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Enjoy the aroma of garlic and rosemary as it wafts through the kitchen while it bakes. Bake till top is golden.

You know the best part, I had this bread all to myself, even though it can serve 8. What would you be dipping this with? I wish I had Cheese right now

• Breads
• Not really a Baker
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