Bread!

So, I'm over here baking again!

This weekend  we got together with some of our couple friends and had an international food night. Everyone made something from either their mission or just something they really wanted to make. It was so fun and to say it was delicious would be a vast understatement! We ate so much but it was so worth it! The Hubs  served his mission in Italy so we had panned on making this really yummy Italian Focaccia, but because life happens, we just didn't have time to make it.

So, I planned it into Sunday Dinner. It took FOREVER and we still didn't get to eat it with our actual dinner but we sure enjoyed munching on it the rest of the night. ( are you like us and eat Sunday Dinner at like 2-4 and then just munch the rest of the day?) We ate till we were overly full and still wanted more ha ha. It was really so good! Then for dinner Monday I made it into Focaccia pizza by just adding salami and mozzarella cheese. I seriously didn't know something could be so good! Ok so here is the recipe. If you decide to make this, give yourself enough time, but I promise it will be so worth it!

Recipe:
5 c. flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp fast active yeast or 1 package
6 TBSP olive oil
2 c. water at room temperature
my additions
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
3 TBSP parmesan cheese
Black Olives (NOT FROM A CAN!!!)
cherry tomatoes sliced in half

Directions:
1. Stir together flour, salt, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and oil and mix on medium speed (using hook attachment) until the ingredients form a wet, sticky ball. Scrape dough from sides and let rest. Stir again adding flour slowly until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. (The dough should be very elastic not sticky but pliable.)
2. Sprinkle enough flour on your counter to make a bed about 6in sq. scrape the dough from the sides of bowl using a wet spatula and place onto the flour bed. Dust the top of your dough with flour and let it relax for 5 min.
3. Dust your hands with flour and press the dough into a rectangle shape twice it's original size. Fold it over letter style, spray with oil and loosely cover with plastic wrap.
4. Let rest for thirty minutes, and repeat steps three and four 2 more times.
5.Allow the dough to rise on the counter for an hour. it should swell but not necessarily double in size.
6. Spray a 7x12 baking pan with olive oil and press your dough into it using your finger tips, before pressing, coat with olive oil and any herbs you wish to add. The shape of the dough should be dimply- lots of little pockets from your finger tips.
7. On step seven you are supposed to place the dough in the Fridge over night or up to three days but I was not waiting for that ha! Im sure it would have been even better had I though. If you decide to do it this way make sure to take the dough out three hours before baking.
8. So if your like me and didn't do it that way, I then added olives, halved cherry tomatoes and parmesan cheese.Then I baked in the oven at 425 for 20-25 min.

The bread should be golden brown and crispy on the outside and warm and chewy on the inside.
I was so please with how good this turned out. First try at Focaccia, I say a win!