New Years Eve- Three weeks later. (Foccacia Bread Recipe)

So this New Years James and I wanted to do something fun together without going to a packed restaurant or bar. We are generally the stay at home on the weekends kind of people and that's exactly the way we like it, so New Years Eve was not going to be any different. Instead we took the opportunity to use some more of our new kitchen gadgets to cook up what turned out to be an amazing meal. The idea for the main course came straight from James. He was eager to try out the meat grinder attachment for the stand mixer that he got for Christmas-- I know men and their meat right? But when he said he wanted to make sausage and meat balls and a big pot of sauce from scratch I was not going to complain for a second. I immediately began to rack my brains for something that I could contribute to the meal and decided I wanted to try my hand at focaccia bread with herbed olive oil. I mean what better to snack on while cooking a big Italian meal then crusty bread and of course red wine-- lots of red wine. I was a little nervous because I don't have a ton of experience of baking yeast breads but I was happy with the end result and I know what I would do differently next time.

The first thing that was a bit worrisome, was that my dough didn't seem to double in size like the recipe called for. I think that this was because my kitchen tends to be a little bit colder. Next time I think I would create a warmer place for the dough to sit, and hopefully it will help the problem. I don't think the effected the end result to dramatically but I won't know for sure until I make it again.

The other thing that I was a little hesitant about was the amount of olive oil you are supposed to add to the pan prior to baking. It called for 1/2 cup, but since we were planning on dipping it in the flavored oils that I had made that morning, I only added 1/4 cup. This still looked like a lot to me, but the finished product was a little dry. For us it was great because we were dipping, but in other circumstances I would probably stick to the original 1/2 cup it called for. Now in the midst of all this bread baking James was busy getting everything ready for dinner. While he prepped for the sauce, I got busy getting all of the meat cut down to go through the grinder. When it was all said and done we spent a good 7 hours in the kitchen getting everything ready for dinner, but not only was it worth it, I had blast. James took the lead on this meal and I was happy to assist with the various things that needed to be prepped. And as far as team work goes we hit it out of the park on this one. 

 

Funnily enough, I took tons of pictures of the process of cooking the meatballs and sausage and not so many of the end result. I guess that's what happens when you spend all day cooking and drinking wine-- I swear as soon as the food was in front of me it was gone. It was that good. The next time we do this I promise to document the entire thing better and include recipes, but for now all you need to know was that it was absolutely amazing. So now that I told you all about the amazing food that we made with no recipe to follow-- I will get back to the focaccia.

It came out nice and crusty as I had hoped it would, and with the herbed olive oil it was nearly perfect. Add the red wine and I was a happy camper. I had to restrain myself from filling up on the bread before the dinner was finished cooking-- and I can't stress enough how happy I was that I did.

Foccacia Bread (adapted from this recipe )

Ingredients 

• 1 3/4 cups warm water
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for kneading
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Directions

Combine the warm water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Put the bowl in a warm, not hot or cool, place until the yeast is bubbling and aromatic, at least 15 minutes.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, 1/2 cup olive oil and the yeast mixture on low speed. Once the dough has come together, continue to knead for 5 to 6 minutes on a medium speed until it becomes smooth and soft. Give it a sprinkle of flour if the dough is really sticky and tacky.

Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly floured surface, then knead it by hand 1 or 2 times. Again, give it another sprinkle of flour if the dough is really sticky and tacky.
Coat the inside of the mixer bowl lightly with olive oil and return the dough to the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, at least 1 hour.

Coat a baking pan with the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil.


Put the dough onto the jelly roll pan and begin pressing it out to fit the size of the pan. Turn the dough over to coat the other side with the olive oil. Continue to stretch the dough to fit the pan. As you are doing so, spread your fingers out and make finger holes all the way through the dough.

Put the dough in the warm place until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour. While the dough is rising a second time, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.( My dough didn't seem to rise all that much this time either)

Liberally sprinkle the top of the focaccia with some coarse sea salt and lightly drizzle a little oil on top. Bake the dough until the top of the loaf is golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the focaccia from the oven and let it cool before cutting and serving.