Tuesdays With Julie and Dorie: Focaccia

SUCH A VERSATILE BREAD--A KEEPER RECIPE!

This bread was a hit on our Superbowl food table.  Lots of hungry people at my house who agree that it's not beer that goes better with football, but it is food!  I'm sure we went through more food on Sunday than we did on Thanksgiving, the biggest food day of the year...used to be.  

My refrigerated dough took a long time to rise...like forever.  Must have been too cold on this winter day.  (I know you all think we enjoy perpetual spring here in our AZ winter...but it does feel cold to us.  70^ is nice if you are Cher living in Upstate New York, but is cold to us.)  I love to bake bread here in AZ in the summer.  Most people quit cooking because of the heat, but I love to bake bread...it rises in about a quarter of the time...so I have this recipe on my calendar again for May...it will be 100^ by then.

I made 6 baking sheets of focaccia with a variety of toppings and melted cheeses.  It was all eaten except for this one, which I kept plain  (just brushed with freshly cut herbs infused olive oil) and hidden for today's use.  It is day old, reheated, cut in half like a layer cake being cut to form two layers, and then the fun began.  I brushed herb infused olive oil on each inside half and then melted cheese on each side, grilled a variety of fresh veges, added pan-fried ham, sliced a pickle, picked fresh garden lettuce and we enjoyed an amazing meal.  

The photo is my sandwich portion which is about 7" X 5" and I ate every bite!  3 of us ate this left-over, day-old bread sandwich and we all agreed that it is delicious!!! 

I used different flours on each batch, just to compare the results.  The photo is from 100% high gluten bread flour.  It is more chewy, but not as "bubbly."  Focaccia using 1/2 bread and 1/2 all purpose flours was much lighter and more airy; picking up that bread was a real difference in how much lighter it felt, and I also tried only all purpose flour which was airy, a little more crumbly, but still very good, and it rose faster than the higher gluten, more coarse doughs.  For hearty sandwiches I would go with the 1/2 and 1/2 flours.  No complaints with any of my combos...all are amazing, just a little different.

I know this is good.  Hubby asked me to slice his sandwich in half as he could not eat such a huge portion.  Within a couple of minutes both halves had been devoured.  And Hubby saves his calories for the weekend...he almost never eats a large portion during the week.  This recipe is a winner.  Even love it when it is day-old!

Hope you all enjoyed success...I have a feeling that overall this recipe will be "a keeper!"