Garlic and Herb Focaccia Bread

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Welcome to Sprinkled with Sass: Quarantine Edition!

A quick recap of the last couple months:

Working in office while hearing about the spread of the ‘rona, events getting cancelled, transition to working from home while planning to be in office a couple days a week, Governor immediately issuing “Safer-at-Home” order putting the kibosh on that plan, working exclusively from home, existential dread, fear of job loss, increased fear of job loss, fear of job loss at critical mass, realizing that there was never a threat of job loss and my bosses are just bad communicators (phew), watching a lot of Netflix and Disney+.

You know: the usual.

Eternal upside is the amaaaaazing IzzyBitty who I still get to see almost every day. Sometimes that means I get to see her sleeping, but that’s how we get gems like these (Warning: Your heart may burst from the cuteness):

Has your heart recovered yet? No? Ok, I’ll wait…

Now that you have returned to pre-cuteness-overload levels, allow me to share what else I have been doing during quarantine:

The same thing everyone else has been doing: scrolling on Facebook and Instagram.

And what I have noticed is an influx of my friends and acquaintances trying their hand at baking bread! As I said in my inaugural post, bread baking is not nearly as scary as everyone thinks it is and I am so happy the world is coming around to that! Bake on you lovely bakers! The bread gods smile down upon you!

I’ve always imagined the Gods of Bread look like this.

To pay homage to the gods of bread (and because we were having pasta for dinner), I too chose to make bread: Garlic and Herb Focaccia.

Focaccia is a super simple bread to begin with, but this recipe kicks it up a notch by using infused olive oil both in the bread and on top. How do you infuse olive oil you ask? Dump some stuff in a pan, heat it up, then let it sit for a while.

While that is sitting, add yeast to warm water and let it bloom for five minutes.

In case you were wondering: bloom is a fancy way of saying “let it get foamy”.

  • Just added
  • Bloomed/Foamy

Once your yeast has bloomed, add it, a cup of flour, a 1/4 cup of your infused oil, and a squirt of honey to a large bowl and stir it a couple times until the flour has mixed with the liquid. Let it rest for five minutes.

Stir in the rest of your flour and mix until combined. Now comes the messy part. Turn that sticky dough out onto a floured surface and knead 10-15 times or until the dough comes together. It is going to be a little sticky until it all comes together! If it seems like it is taking too long, add a little more flour.

Transfer your dough to a large oiled bowl. Cover it with a damp towel and let rise for an hour in a warm area of your kitchen/house. I do this by preheating my oven to 200F and turning it off before putting the bowl in the oven.

  • Before
  • After

Now is a good time to preheat your oven and prep your pan.

Spread a couple tablespoons of your infused oil in a 9×13 baking sheet (*cough* jelly roll pan *cough).

Press your dough into the pan. Use your fingers to make cute little dimples all over your dough and drizzle the remaining infused olive oil over the dough.

Let your bread rest for 20 min. This gives it a chance to relax after being (albeit gently) stretched beyond its limits. It needs that 20 minutes to perk back up again. Think of it as a gluten power nap.

Bake it for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Let it cool on a wire rack for as long as you can stand it and serve!

Adapted from Inspired Taste

Garlic and Herb Focaccia Bread
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Garlic and Herb Focaccia Bread

Recipe by StaceyDifficulty: Easy

Ingredients

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

  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced

  • 2 teaspoons dried Italian Seasoning

  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

  • 1 cup (235 ml) warm water

  • 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)

  • 1/4 teaspoon honey

  • 2 1/2 cups (315 grams) all-purpose flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

  • In a cold medium skillet, combine olive oil, minced garlic, Italian Seasoning, and the black pepper. Place the pan over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, 5 to 10 minutes or until aromatic, but before the garlic browns. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, combine the warm water, yeast, and honey. Stir a few times then let sit for 5 minutes.
  • Add 1 cup of the flour and a 1/4 cup of the infused garlic-olive oil mixture to the bowl with yeast and honey. Stir 3 to 4 times until the flour has moistened. Let sit for another 5 minutes.
  • Stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour and the salt. When the dough comes together, transfer to a floured board and knead 10 to 15 times until smooth.
  • Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl, cover with a warm, damp towel and let rise for 1 hour. (Pre-warm your oven to its lowest temperature and turn it off before putting the bread in.)
  • After 1 hour, heat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Use two tablespoons of the remaining garlic-olive oil mixture to oil a 9-inch by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet.
  • Transfer the dough to the baking sheet then press it down into the pan. Use your fingers to dimple the dough then drizzle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of the garlic-olive oil mixture. Let the dough rise for 20 minutes until it puffs slightly.
  • Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool baked focaccia bread on a wire rack.

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