I am coming clean that I have a brand-new favorite Focaccia.
It's just so much faster than my original recipe.
AND it's freezer friendly!
I can barely keep a stash in the freezer as the teens devour this bread, round after round.
Just between you and I, I make three rounds at a time and put two out for immediate consumption and freeze/hide a back-up for those helter-skelter nights that we seem to keep having now that soccer season is in full gear every night.
This bread, hot out of the oven, just melts in your mouth. It's great plain or with a little grapeseed or olive oil dipping oil mixed with herbs and spices (and a little balsamic vinegar too if you like that kind of combo).
If you have a bread machine, this will come together even faster although I can't imagine that it will take that long as it is a low-maintenance style bread in terms of kneading, etc.
Weeknight Focaccia
Recipe adapted slightly from Not Your Mother's Make-Ahead & Freeze Cookbook by Jessica Fisher
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (or you can substitute 1 cup whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the white flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon oregano
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
Coarse salt
Instructions:
- Combine water, 2 tablespoons olive oil, flour, the 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, garlic powder, oregano and yeast in a bread machine and program it for the dough setting. If making without a bread machine, mix the ingredients and then knead dough on a lightly floured surface, allowing the dough to rise in a warm place for an hour to an hour and a half, with plastic wrap covering the dough.
- Grease three 8-inch round cake pans, generously, with olive oil.
- When the dough is done, remove dough to greased surface and divide into three portions. Press each third into a prepared cake pan.
- Ensure that both sides are covered in olive oil by flipping the dough rounds over. Spread and press dough to the edges of the pan.
- Cover the pans with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for at least 30 minutes, or longer, until doubled in bulk.
- About 30 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Remove the plastic wrap and drizzle the remaining olive oil over the bread rounds. Sprinkle the tops with coarse salt and bake for 15 minutes.
- The key next is to cool the rounds completely (without anyone helping themselves). Remove from the pans, wrap securely in plastic wrap and place each round into a freezer bag. Thaw the bread at room temperature in their wrappings and to warm the bread, heat in a 350 degree F. oven for about 5 minutes prior to serving.
P.S. If you enjoy preparing meals ahead, cooking in bulk or freezer meal preparation, then Jessica Fischer's cookbook, Not Your Mother's Make-Ahead & Freeze Cookbook is a gem and a lifesaver. She not only provides over 200 freezer-friendly recipes but also gives you cooking plans for power meal preparation days. I am working my way through the cookbook and finding her hints, tips, and anecdotes extremely helpful and her recipes have all been family favorites. I highly encourage you to check this book out in some capacity as it can revolutionalize the way you prepare healthy, yet delicious meals.
