My Beloved Focaccia Bread

Baking usually brings me so much joy. I grew up with a mom, grandma, and aunt who led me to believe it was easy. Pshhh. As I adventured into the world of baked goods, I quickly learned that patience was a word I was more likely to associate .. it takes a lot of patience to be good at baking, to perfect recipes, and to find the best of each kind. But that doesn't scare me!

I used to love baking cupcakes and cookies, mainly because when I took nutrition classes at UW, I found it a fun challenge to take less healthy recipe more healthy. But I realized, I am more of a savory person. I enjoy the salty flavors, and garlic, I LOVE GARLIC.

Which led me to this focaccia bread. It started with a recipe in the Williams Sonoma baking cookbook. I used to work holiday season at WS because then I would get the discount for all of my Christmas gifts, and this cookbook has been amazing. However, the first lesson I learned was that when you are baking bread, read the whole recipe before you begin. I thought I was going to be getting my bread 45 minutes after starting, silly me. Bread rises, and I forgot that.

Nonetheless, besides learning patience while bread rises, I learned a couple other things to the recipe written that made this focaccia bread the bomb.com.

INGREDIENTS
5 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 3/4 cup of warm water (115 degrees F)
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (if possible, 1/2 cup regular and 1/4 cup truffle olive oil)
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. I whisk it with a fork for about a minute, and then I let it stand until foamy, about 5 minutes
   
2. Add sugar, olive oil, sea salt, garlic salt, basil, and oregano. Stir in whisking motion with fork.
   
3. Add in 5 cups of flour, and begun stirring with hands. I knead the dough in the bowl, but you can transfer to another surface that is floured if you prefer. Knead for 5-7 minutes.
   
4. Form the dough into a ball, transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot until it doubles in bulk. It takes about an hour to 1.5 hours. 
   
5. After it doubles, transfer to a half cookie sheet that is lightly oiled. punch the dough evenly into pan, cover with dish towel and set to rise in warm space for another 75 minutes, re-dimpling every 20 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and position a rack in the lower third of the oven. 
7. Remove the dish towel, dimple the dough, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt lightly, and set on lower rack to bake.
   
8. Bake for 20 minutes and check. My breads have varied but it usually takes anywhere between 20-25 minutes. 
9. Once done, it will be a beautiful golden brown. Immediately flip half sheet upside down and transfer to a wire rack. 
10. Cut into squares and serve warm. May also be frozen up to two weeks and be rewarmed prior to eating at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.