I've never made focaccia before, and I'm more the bread-machine type of bread maker, but I decided to give it a go. If you have a few hours to kill, and the patience to be in and out of the kitchen for those few hours, then this recipe is for you! This is not the type of dough that can be made in a bread-machine, nor can it be cooked that way. This is a hands-on task...know that before you take it on!
I don't have pictures of all the steps because it was kind of slow-going, but the entire recipe can be found at the link above, so everyone should give it a go! I have a feeling I'm going to add it to my repertoire because this is some DELICIOUS focaccia. After making a boiling water, honey and rosemary concoction, and allowed it to cool to a warm 110 degrees, I added some yeast and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I gathered the rest of the ingredients for the dough, and once they were all incorporated, I began a 10 minute stint of kneading...and boy are my arms tired. Ten minutes is a long time to be moving, kneading and pressing into dough, but eventually, it got to that smooth, elastic-y point where it was ready to rest, and rise!
Forty-five minutes later, I walked into the kitchen to find a giant ball of dough, which I punched down, and then spread out on a baking sheet with my fingers. The dough was really plyable and I just knew that I was doing things right! Ya know how you can tell when something really doesn't seem right? I didn't have any of those feelings, even though this was my first attempt! After another 20 minutes of rising on the baking sheet, we were finally ready to brush the surface with egg yolk, olive oil and and water. First, I had to make those infamous focaccia indentations with my pointer finger. After the surface was glossy with egg yolk mixture, I sprinkled some sea salt along with chopped rosemary all over the top and it was finally ready for the oven!
that looks awesome!
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