Rosemary-Olive Focaccia
It takes less than an hour, from startto finish, to create this aromatic and delicious bread. It’s a great appetizeron its own or with cheese, and you can slice it in half and use it forsandwiches.
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup warm water, more as needed
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 2¼ tsp active dry yeast (one envelope)
- 2 cups white flour
- ½ cup kalamata olives, divided
- 2 TBS rosemary leaves, divided
- 2 TBS olive oil
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Place the water in a medium bowl. Add the sugar and yeast, stir, and let sit for 5-10 minutes until bubbly.
- Preheat the oven to 425° F.
- Add the flour to the water mixture, ½ cup at a time, stirring after each addition until you get a rough dough that incorporates all the flour. Add more warm water, a tablespoon at a time, if needed.
- Coarsely chop half of the olives and half of the rosemary leaves reserve the rest for topping. Fold the chopped olives and rosemary into dough .Knead the dough for a minute or two and form it into a ball. Let the dough rest in the bowl for 5 minutes
- Turn over a cookie sheet and spray the bottom lightly with oil. Shape the dough into a rectangle about 8×10 inches and position it on top of the overturned cookie sheet; let it rest another 10 minutes. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes in the top of the focaccia in even rows.
- Spread the olive oil over the top of the focaccia and sprinkle with salt. Slice the reserved olives and sprinkle the slices and the reserved rosemary leaves over the top of the focaccia.
- Slide the overturned cookie sheet into the oven
- Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on how brown you want your focaccia to be. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before eating. Cut into slices or squares or just tear off pieces.