Last week was a bit of a blur….literally! I blame the guy on the plane on the way home from El Paso Texas. He was taking mucinex and drinking orange juice….it was a bad sign to me. SOOOOOooooo…..I decided it was a good week to get a chest and head cold…..not fun for sure! So orange juice and rest has been my best friend. Oh and I discovered saline flushes in the nose, AMAZING really!
To make this week end better, and to make me SQUEEEE like a little girl…..it finally snowed in Charlotte!!!! Now you may say, well everyone has been getting snow, so what? In Charlotte, we really don’t get much snow. So when it snows here, it is like we won the lottery. It is the BEST moment EVER!!!
Now back to food! Do you remember last week when I shared the Belgium Chocolate Cherry Clafoutis? That fun dessert was made when CafeTerrBlog went mobile and made a few fun dishes at our friend’s house.
A few bloggers had said it is hard for them to cook at other people’s home. BUT we actually all cooked together, laughed, and really enjoyed ourselves. AND to make it even better, they said they would love to be our food guinea pigs anytime, WOO HOO!!!
We made grilled cedar plank salmon, grilled veggies, and to compliment the two treats, I made homemade focaccia bread. A few weeks ago Red Star Yeast sent me a package full of yeast. The best moment in a bread bakers life!!! The focaccia recipe I made was not completely measured, I am not one to measure much. I made a similar version of the focaccia bread awhile ago on Queen City Exclusive. The original recipe and inspiration came from Diethood.
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp of salt
- 2 packages (.25 oz.) Platinum Red Star Yeast
- 4 cloves fresh garlic, finely diced
- 2 heaping Tbsp of fresh rosemary, chopped finely
- ½ cup fresh parmesan
- 1 cup of lukewarm water, about 115-120 degrees Fahrenheit
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Sliced black olives to top on bread
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. We used the baking steel pan. If you use a sheet pan, just lightly grease the pan with cooking spray, or olive oil, and sprinkle cornmeal on pan.
- In a small bowl, or 4 cup glass measuring cup, add lukewarm water, olive oil, and yeast, let the mixture sit for up to five minutes to let yeast come alive.
- In medium bowl, add flour, salt, garlic, rosemary, and parmesan. Add in yeast mixture and mix well. You may need more flour if dough is too sticky. Once dough is mixed well enough, knead for about 30 seconds. Place dough in oiled bowl, and let sit in warm area for about 1-2 hours, until dough doubles in size.
- Spread dough out on pan, sprinkle black olives on top of dough, bake for about 25-35 minutes until golden brown, depending on oven.
- Enjoy!
Now this bread has taken three different transformations. It is a fun recipe, and easy to make your own, add in any of your favorite ingredients!
What is your favorite homemade bread to make?
Do you love snow as much as I do?
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