I have been on a bread making kick. First, I made dinner rolls for Thanksgiving. Then I made a French Brioche loaf around Christmas time. Remember my Overnight Cranberry Lemon Eggnog French Toast? That was my very own French Brioche loaf I used in that!
And now I've made focaccia bread. I love focaccia bread with its soft texture and delicate flavors. So when I found a recipe to make skillet focaccia, I was doing my happy dance because I've been craving focaccia bread!
It's quite easy to make for a yeast bread and you can virtually do no wrong when making it. Unless your yeast is too old, your water is too hot or not hot enough, or you added too much flour.
You see, yeast is a living organism and if you add too hot of water, you can kill the yeast. The optimum temperature for dissolving the yeast needs to be between 90 and 110F degrees. On the other end of the spectrum, if the water isn't warm enough, it won't activate the yeast.
Proper measurement of flour is important when making bread because adding too much flour, weighs dough down, making it heavy, which makes it difficult to work with and hinders the rising process.
It's no wonder why so many people shy away from making their own bread after just going over those three tips. To say the least, bread making can be a little overwhelming. But this recipe is easy peasy! Yes, I just said that, Easy Peasy!
If you want to learn how to become a better bread maker, check out King Arthur Flour's pages for some awesome tips. They have you covered on bread making!
Let me be clear, I’m not sponsored by nor am I endorsing King Arthur Flour. I’m just sharing a great site for learning how to become a better bread maker and it also has a trouble shooting page so you can figure out what happened to your bread.
It’s like sharing information with a girlfriend, there’s just some things you need to share and I feel like sharing this great site with y’all! Plus, I find every time I visit their site, I learn something new! How can I keep that all to myself?
Anywho, back to this focaccia bread. You don't have to be a master bread maker to make it. Just follow the tips and you'll have this focaccia bread on your table tonight!
Rosemary and Sun Dried Tomato Whole Wheat Focaccia Bread
Rosemary and sun dried tomatoes add a delicate Italian flavoring to this soft focaccia bread.
Prep time: 1 hour and 30 minutes (includes dough rising time)Cook time: 25 minutes
Total time: 2 hours
Yield: One 12" loaf or two 6" loafs
Ingredients
- 2 cups 100% whole grain whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 package yeast
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups warm water
- 1/4 cup fresh rosemary, removed from the stem
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, julienne cut
- sprinkling of sea salt
- Prepare 12" skillet by generously coating inside with olive oil. You can also use two 6" skillets for 2 focaccia breads instead of the one. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine water and yeast. Stir together with a fork to dissolve.
- Add 1 cup of wheat flour and 1/2 cup of AP flour to the yeast mixture.
- Using Low speed on your stand mixer, mix together for about 3 minutes until all flour is mixed. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, mix in olive oil, sea salt, sun dried tomatoes, and 2 Tablespoons of rosemary.
- Mix in remaining cup of wheat flour and 3/4 cup of AP flour on Low speed for 4-5 minutes. If dough is difficult to work with, add warm water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until dough is more pliable. If dough is too sticky, gradually add in small amounts of AP flour until dough becomes more pliable. Dough should be soft, not hard and wrapping itself around the dough attachment.
- Sprinkle a small amount of AP flour on a clean, hard, dry surface. Remove dough from bowl and place on floured surface.
- Gently knead dough into a ball and place into prepared skillet. If using 2 skillets, cut ball in half and place each half into prepared skillets.
- Gently press dough down so it fills up the bottom of the skillet.
- Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes. At this time, you can preheat oven to 400F degrees.
- Remove towel and brush olive oil over the top of the dough.
- Using a sharp knife, make diagonal cuts into the top of the dough.
- Sprinkle sea salt and remaining rosemary over the top.
- Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until top is lightly browned.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle sea salt over the top, and serve with warmed olive oil.
Inspired by Gerry at Foodness Gracious.
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