Focaccia

 Today I made focaccia, as it's a bread I've been wanting to make for awhile. When I was in Montreal, I ate what I think was focaccia at the restaurant Venti Osteria, and that's what really got me interested in making this spongy and soft Italian bread. 

I didn't have a recipe in any of my cookbooks, so I searched online for a focaccia recipe and came across quite a lovely website that showcases recipes for Italian food, including a thorough blog post all about making focaccia step by step. You can find it here if you're interested in making focaccia yourself: http://www.italianfoodforever.com/2011/09/how-to-make-focaccia-step-by-step/. 

This recipe is probably one of the fastest and most straightforward bread recipes that I can think of. The bread dough is very basic, with only flour, salt, water, yeast, and olive oil to make up the bread. Everything gets mixed in one bowl, and your rising time is more like a total 2 hours rather than  the 9-12 hours that it takes to make French bread or ciabatta. 

What initially struck me about this recipe was the amount of olive oil that goes in it. You have to include 2-3 tablespoons in the dough itself, then another two tablespoons into the bowl that the dough rises in. Then you pour more olive oil onto the dough to get into the little holes that get pressed into the dough with your fingertips. It maybe doesn't sound like a lot, but it looked like it was a lot. Don't be alarmed like I was though, if you do try the recipe; just follow what the recipe says. The olive oil soaks down into the bread and creates a lovely crispy crust, but a soft, spongy texture that you want in your focaccia bread.

I should probably add that the website I got this recipe from has alternatives for toppings on the focaccia. I chose to sprinkle some chopped Rosemary and sea salt onto my focaccia, but you can also do tomatoes or olives, or anything else you want.

Overall, I highly recommend this recipe for a basic focaccia that you can be creative with. Besides that, it's delicious and, as an added bonus, it's very easy to make! There's really no excuse why you can't have some tasty homemade focaccia too.