Greek Foccacia Bread Recipes

FOCACCIA BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil and black pepper. Mix in the vegetable oil and water.
• When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Punch dough down; place on greased baking sheet. Pat into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Brush top with olive oil. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.
• Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

FOCACCIA

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2-cup warm water and honey; let stand for 5 minutes. Add flour, 1/4 cup oil, salt and remaining 3/4-cup water; mixing until smooth (dough will be wet). Scrape the sides of the bowl clean; cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes., Preheat oven to 425°. Brush a 13x9-in. baking pan with 1 tablespoon oil. Gently scrape dough directly into pan. With oiled hands, gently spread dough. If dough springs back, wait 10 minutes and stretch again. Make indentations in the dough with your fingers. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons oil; let rise until doubled in size, 30-40 minutes. , If desired, sprinkle with sea salt. Bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Cut into squares; serve warm.

GREEK FOCCACIA BREAD

Steps:

• if you don't keep roasted garlic around you can easily make it by trimming off the top of a whole garlic bulb, just enough to expose the cloves, make a little cup around it with a 6 inch piece of tin foil, drizzle a spoonful or two of olive oil into the exposed cloves, wrap it up and bake at 375f for some 45 min or until soft. it makes the house smell so good and makes it so easy to add lovely healthy garlic to everything i often keep a head in the fridge. just squeeze out of the skin and you can do whatever with it.
• mix yeast, sugar, and water, set aside till it starts bubbling suspiciously. if your yeast is really fresh keep an eye on it or it will bubble over, you want it to just start bubbling so all that rising power goes into the bread itself. btw, yeast should be kept in the fridge in an airtight container once opened and not for more then 3 months or it wont rise properly anymore. i'm testing what happens with longer term storage in the freezer.
• mix the flour with the herbs, olives, cheese, garlic, and salt in a big bowl.
• add the yeast mixture and the oil to the flour mix and stir till a soft dough forms. it'll be really sticky at first but that's ok. try to keep it mostly in a lump and not on your hands. sprinkle with a few handfuls of flour and kneed until it's pliable and elastic but still soft.
• let rise in a warm place, covered with a clean towel until doubled in size (about 45 min) if my house is cold i sometimes turn the oven knob just until the burner clicks on-not even to 170f which is our lowest, let it heat while i knead the dough and clean up and then turn it off before putting the bowl (totally wrapped in a towel in case the racks are too hot for the plastic) in the oven and leaving the door closed to keep warm. i've also had good results with setting the bowl on the burner the oven vents out of with the oven on a low setting and a pot holder under the bowl but then my cats can get into it.
• once it's risen punch down the dough and kneed a little more, you might need to add a bit more flour to keep it workable and not too sticky but don't add so much that it becomes hard to knead. it takes some practice to get the feel for the texture thing but this is a fairly forgiving recipe so don't worry about it too much.
• divide in two and form into two smooth, round loaves about 1 inch thick, coat in a bit more olive oil and place on a greased cookie sheet, remember that they'll double in size again so give them room to expand. if you want you can freeze the dough at this point and when you thaw in the fridge it will do it's second rise at the same time.
• let rise to double the size again, be aware that the second rise sometimes goes a lot faster then the first and heavily over-proofed bread ends up with large air pockets that collapse after baking.
• bake at 325f for 30 min or so or until it sounds hollow when tapped gently. if it's getting too brown turn the temp down to 310f. when done they should be just golden.
• let cool for 15 min or until you can handle easily. if you want a soft crust instead of a crispy one you can brush with a bit more oil after baking. this is a very soft bread so use a serrated knife to cut (ala sawing) and try not to press down too hard or you'll crush it,.
• serve with butter or a shallow dish of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

THE EASIEST, BESTEST FOCACCIA BREAD EVER!!

Steps:

• Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl. Let proof for 10 minutes (until bubbles begin to form).
• In large bowl, stir together flour, salt, sugar, garlic powder, oregano, thyme, basil, and black pepper.
• Add the yeast mix and vegetable oil to the dry ingredients and combine.
• When dough has pulled together, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
• Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in bowl, and turn to coat with oil.
• Cover with damp cloth and let rise in warm place 25 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Punch dough down, place on greased baking sheet.
• Pat dough into 1/2-inch thick rectangle (doesn't have to be perfect).
• Using your knuckle, make indentations in the dough about 1/2-inch apart, then prick dough with fork.
• Brush top with olive oil, then sprinkle with Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
• Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown.

HOMEMADE FOCACCIA BREAD

Steps:

• Combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Mix well. Heat water and vegetable oil until warm, and add to yeast mixture along with the egg. Blend with an electric mixer at low speed until moistened. Beat for 2 additional minutes. Stir in 1 3/4 cup flour while beating, until dough pulls away from side of bowl.
• Knead in 3/4 cup flour on floured surface. Cover dough with a bowl, and let sit for 5 minutes. Place dough on a greased baking sheet. Roll out to 12 inch circle. Cover with greased plastic wrap and a cloth towel. Place in a warm place for 30 minutes.
• Uncover dough, and poke holes in it with a spoon handle at 1 inch intervals. Drizzle olive oil on dough, and sprinkle with crushed rosemary.
• Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 17 to 27 minutes, until just golden. Remove from baking sheet, and cool on rack.

FOCACCIA WITH OLIVES AND ROSEMARY

Steps:

• Place 2 cups warm water in large bowl. Sprinkle dry yeast over; stir with fork. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 10 minutes.
• Add 4 1/4 cups flour and salt to yeast mixture and stir to blend well (dough will be sticky). Knead dough on floured surface until smooth and elastic, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is sticky, about 10 minutes. Form dough into ball. Oil large bowl; add dough, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm area until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down dough; knead into ball and return to same bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm area until doubled, about 45 minutes or less
• Coat 15x10-inch baking sheet with 1 tablespoon oil. Punch down dough. Transfer to prepared sheet. Using fingertips, press out dough to 13x10-inch rectangle. Let dough rest 10 minutes. Drizzle 2 tablespoons oil over dough. Sprinkle olives and chopped rosemary evenly over. Let dough rise uncovered in warm area until puffy, about 25 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 475°F. Press fingertips all over dough, forming indentations. Bake bread until brown and crusty, about 20 minutes. Serve bread warm or at room temperature.