Skillet Foccacia Bread

 

Now that I've shared my tale of woe at being laid off, you can forgive me for going completely off script and making recipes that are more time consuming and more complicated that my usual M.O.  But I've also discovered that some of the recipes that I once avoided like the plague are not nearly as complicated or time consuming as I thought.

Take this skillet foccacia.  Yes, it is a yeast bread which means having yeast on hand, kneading the dough for 5 minutes, and letting it rise.  Time consuming.  But the end result?  It may just be worth it, my friends.

INGREDIENTS

for the dough:

3/4 c warm water
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp yeast
2 Tbsp olive or canola oil
2 c all-purpose flour ( divided )
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 TBS fresh herbs (garlic, thyme, rosemary, etc... whatever you have on hand) You can also substitute with 1-2 tsp dried herbs

for the parmesan butter brush:

3 Tbsp unsalted or salted butter, melted
1 Tbsp grated parmesan  
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

DIRECTIONS

Place water and sugar in a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Stir until sugar dissolves.  Sprinkle yeast over the water and stir few times. Let sit until foamy ( about 5 minutes).

Turn the mixer on low speed and add 1 cup of flour and salt. Mix until combined.  Or... if you don't have some fancy schmancy stand mixer you can use a bowl and a spoon. 

Add oil and mix well. Gradually add as much of the remaining cup of flour as you can ( it can be only 3/4 of it) and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Add in the fresh or dried herbs.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 220 degrees F and when it's ready turn it off. Keep the door closed.  Grease the skillet.

Place dough onto a floured surface (use the remaining flour from the second cup) and fold the dough few times until you feel it's smooth and not sticky anymore. Shape into a ball.  Roll out the dough into a size of your skillet.  Place in skillet. Stretch up the sides. Cover with a kitchen towel and place in the oven for 20 minutes.  

Take the skillet out of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Make indentations in the dough with your fingers.  Mix melted butter, parmesan and seasoning in a small bowl. Brush the dough with half the butter.  

Place skillet with dough in the preheated oven and bake 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with remaining butter. Let cool until safe to the touch and slice. Serve. 

VERDICT

  

Yum.  Don't be afraid to make bread from scratch.  This is delicious!