The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge (Week 13) Focaccia Bread

I'm no stranger to focaccia bread. Specifically, foccacia bread with onion and rosemary that was so good I even recommended making it to impress a date (and I promise you won't wind up with onion breath).

I wish I could whole-heartedly recommend Peter Reinhart's recipe but for the strapped-for-time bread baker, I wouldn't suggest anything other than the olive oil dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. If you're entertaining, though, this is the bread for you. It makes enough bread to easily feed a crowd, and a hungry crowd, at that.

Peter Reinhart's dough was difficult to manage because there was so much of it. Between each proof, I thought it might outgrow the pan. I had visions of it ballooning in my oven like a big, sticky dough pillow that I would have to untangle from my oven racks....and what kind of photo would that be?

Luckily, the bread that emerged from my oven (crisis averted) was crispy and soft in all the right places and was perfect, when served as an appetizer or as a sandwich, stuffed with fresh basil, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.

Since one of the rules of the Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge is that we don't post the recipes from the book, here are a few recipes that you could try:

Fine Cooking's Basic Focaccia from Peter Reinhart
Bewitching Kitchen's BBA Focaccia
Delish.com's Onion Tomato Focaccia
Cookie Madness' Basic Focaccia

Comments

[Nutmeg Nanny]

That bread looks great! I need some to nibble on right now:)

[elra]

What a wonderful focaccia, Look so good maris!

[Allison Arevalo]

I just bought Artisan Bread in Five Minutes per Day but haven't made anything from it yet. I really enjoy making focaccia, but find it to be such a fickle bread. Great post!

[Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella]

OH you can really see how nice and spongy the foccacia is! :D Great job Maris!h

[Daryl]

When I read olive oil I got excited because I love olive bread.That said this looks sooo good-

[Joanne]

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! Your comments made my day :D.

You've got some incredibly awesome food on here, including this focaccia - which is my favorite bread by the way. My family and I went to Italy for a month when I was 8 and I swear, this was all I ate for those four weeks. I still haven't found a good mimic here in the US. Maybe it's time I baked some myself!

We should have a blogger meet-up some time in the near future since we both live in NYC! I bet it would be a lot of fun.

[VeggieGirl]

Focaccia!! So delish.

[Sophie]

MMMMMM,...your foccacia looks great & truly appetizing!

[kat]

It does look like it would be perfect for sandwiches

[Sandie (Inn Cuisine)]

Look at your bread baking skills! Want to ship me a loaf? ;) Focaccia's my favorite!

[Dana]

I've looked at that recipe before and have almost made it, but I stop every time because of the amount of time involved. I know there are much simpler foccacia recipes out there (I have even made a few) but it's nice to know this turns out so beautifully.

[grace]

i lurve focaccia--it's like the ultimate sandwich bread for me. yours looks so soft and fluffy on the inside, yet the crust is nicely browned. perfection.

[Megan]

Focaccia is on my list of breads to make once the weather stays cool. I really like this with the rosemary and onions. Bet it was super-tasty. Thanks for the recipe recommendations!

[Lele]

Mmm that olive oiley top on your foccacia is calling my name!

[Kerstin]

I heart focaccia and yours looks SOO good!

[Srivalli]

This looks yum..Focaccia is on my list of breads to make...yet to find time to get to it!

[Amber]

Wow, looks just like the bread I had at an Italian restaurant last night. Bravo!

[theteachercooks]

Your bread looks great!