Herb & Parmesan Focaccia Recipe

When I make scratch pizza, stromboli, calzone, French/Italian bread or focaccia, I use this dough for the bread part. That recipe will make enough dough for 2 large pizzas. When I made focaccia last week for the 4 of us (yielding 2 large squares each), I made a half recipe, using:

3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1  1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 to 1 tablespoons oil (the oil tenderizes the dough, so if you like a chewier crust, use the lesser amount, and if you prefer a softer bread crust, use the greater)
about 2 cups of flour (half white, half wheat is my preference)

1) In a large mixing bowl pour water and sprinkle with yeast. Stir in salt and sugar.

2) Mix in 1 cup of flour and the oil.  Add remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough is just a tad bit soft still. If it's too stiff, it's difficult to stretch on the baking sheet.

3) Knead right in the bowl, for about 3-4 minutes. Allow to sit for about 40 minutes.

4) Grease your baking sheet.

5) Punch down dough. Stretch onto the prepared baking sheet.

Focaccia is more of a bread than a pizza crust. You'll want to press the dough out until about 1/2-inch thick all over, as opposed to stretching a pizza crust as thin as you can get it without tearing. Dimple the top of the crust with a fingertip.

6) Allow the pressed dough to rise at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Now for the topping part.

For the herb and Parmesan topping:

generous amounts of olive oil (see my notes below for saving on olive oil)

chopped fresh (or frozen) rosemary

crushed dried oregano

shaved Parmesan cheese

optional -- some folks add a sprinkling of coarse salt to the topping

optional -- you can add some freshly cracked black pepper, if desired

Preheat the oven to 405 degrees F.

After the dough has risen, drizzle it with olive oil. It will puddle in the dimples. Sprinkle with lots of the herbs. Shave generous amounts of Parmesan over the top. I use a vegetable peeler to shave block Parmesan. If Parmesan is not your thing, you could substitute some shredded mozzarella or provolone cheese.

Bake for about 16 to 18 minutes, until the focaccia is golden. Cut into sticks or squares.

Interesting, while the olive oil still sits in pools while baking, shortly after removing from the oven, the bread absorbs the oil. Delicious.

My method for stretching expensive olive oil -- I blend half and half olive oil with vegetable oil in a bottle kept in the pantry. This is what we use for salad dressings and cooking. When I really want the flavor of the olive oil to stand out, I will use undiluted olive oil.

My rosemary survives winter about half the time. During the summer months, I chop and freeze rosemary. In this focaccia, I didn't feel like chopping some fresh rosemary, instead I used frozen chopped rosemary. It keeps its flavor in freezing.

Buon appetito!