My husband used to be quite a regular to Italian and Chinese restaurants, before marriage. So his knowledge ( rather taste buds! ) of those cuisines are so vast that it used to amaze me quite a lot. During early days of our marriage when I started my cooking and donned the apron, my hubby was my best critic, especially for other cuisines other than South Indian.
I had tried a vast no. of Italian dishes but one – Foccaccia. My hubby loves Foccaccia a lot and sings its praises so much that, that I have been v apprehensive to cook. He had been insisting hintingly at my obvious pretermit. So at last, recently, I thought that the time has come to face my fears and make it at home. The result made me think that i need not have feared it in the first place!
I have previously never had Foccaccia, dint know how it looked,smell taste – nothing! But after I had the one I made, it has made me an instant lover. The prep was not at all hard. For such a small effort the result was a wonder! Oh ya, My hubby gave it A++
. I am submitting this as my entry to Bread Baking Day #04 Event , a blog event initiated by Zorra

Here is the recipe I had noted for Foccaccia
Method
1. Preheat Oven to 425 F. Sift the flour,salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Add the yeast and sugar and make a well in the center. Add water with pesto,olives and sun dried tomatoes.
3.Mix it into a soft dough,adding little water if necc.
4.Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and knead till smooth and elastic.
5.Then store it in a well oiled bowl and cover it with a plastic wrap
and keep it in a warm place till risen
6.Now knead it again for a min and then shape it into an Oval size.
Place it a greased baking sheet
and cover it with a plastic wrap.
Leave it again for a while in a warm place till it rises a second time
7. Now oil the surface with either Olive oil or the sun dried tomato’s reserved oil.
8. Using the fingertips make indentations all over the surface of the bread and sprinkle salt and rosemary on top.
9.Bake for 20-25 min until golden.
10.Transfer to a wire rack.
11. I served it warm with some Bell pepper’ed pasta and our dinner was a total winner
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Hi DK! This luks AWESOME!!!!!!! We are a ‘focaccia crazy’ family here….so, wud try this soon n let u know how it turned out….who knows…. if I’m able to make it attractive enough like urs, I’d post a pic too
Some queries – what can be used inplace of bread flour – we don’t get that here, and second, can sundried tomato(without oil) be used for this recipe?
Can you please clarify how much sugar you added?
Hi AC, thanks for pointing out my omission – Its a pinch of sugar and I have updated the post accordingly
–DK
That is a beautiful focaccia! Rosemary is my favorite for focaccia.
The roundup for bbd#04 is now online.
thank you for your entry!!
manuela
http://bakinghistory.wordpress.com/2007/12/04/bbd-04-roundup/
What a wonderful Focaccia! Thank you for participating in BBD #4!
manuela
Hey good job…i luv foccacia bread.
will surely give it a try..
it looks yummy….
That is too good for a first time- maker of foccaccia..sun-dried tomatoes as an ingredient makes me definitely want to try it!!
That is looking so tempting dhivya. I never tried this too. Looks like I need to try to make it now.
Wow, looks great! No wonder your hubby loves it!
Thanks Bee
Thanks Rajitha…yes either way would come out good
Hi sudha..one courier on its way
Thank u sirisha
Manasi–u r making me blush
Hey thanks Kribha…do try @ home..its ec
Thanks deepz.
Wow Madhu..Now thats a real compliment
Hi anonymous,
The temp is 425F. There are couple of differences between Bread flour and plain.
Bread flour has more protein than plain and presenc eof barley flour in it helps to increase the elasticity of the dough. Although plain flour can be used for bread flour, the results need not to be as great.plain flour are more often than not used for cakes while bread flour is used more in Breads and pizza crust recipes. Hope u found it useful
Looks gorgerous!!!…At what temp should it be baked?…Is bread flour any diff from plain flour?…
It looks beautiful and recipes sounds easy to make. Will try it soon.
Hi Dhivya,
It’s been awhile since I visited your blog. Actually, I forgot to add you to my reader. That’s why I’ve been missing so many of your nice posts. Sorry about that.
I too love foccasia but never attempted at home. Thanks dear for this great recipe and pics. Bookmarked it.
Focaccia looks so delicious, i have tasted it at wolfgang’s and loved it. Your look excatly like that. Can’t resisit will have to try…..
Looks awesome!!! U r GOOD!!!
I still am *very* nervous abt baking breads!!
Nice looking focassia Dhivya…..Looks great
)
Dhivi,
Looks awesome ..wanna taste some
~Sudha(Redmond)
perfect for slicing in the middle and making a fantastic sandwich or eating straight-up!! yumm
that is a really gorgeous foccacia.