Unless your name is Jacques Pepin or you have "Iron Chef" emblazoned on your apron, it's likely that there's something in the kitchen that stumps you. A culinary Achilles heel, so to speak. For me, that stumbling block is pie crust, much to my pie-loving family's chagrin. However, for a long time, it was bread dough or, more specifically yeast, that tripped me up. Okay, I admit it. I was terrified to do anything with those little granules, convinced that I was destined to make loaves of bread that were more fit for passing around the hockey rink than eating.
When Anuradha of the inspiring baking blog Baker Street asked me to kick off her series on yeast breads, I was more than happy to share the tips I learned since tackling my fear of yeast. This recipe for Focaccia with Roasted Red Peppers with Olives, along with those tips, can be found over on Anuradha's blog. It is on a take on one of my favorite focaccia recipes with caramelized onions, tomatoes and rosemary.
While you're there, be sure to browse through Anuradha's site. Her recipes, such as Nutella Cream Cheese Chocolate Cake and Blueberry Lime Bread, are what dreams are made of. Every Monday she posts a new muffin recipe in her Muffin Monday series. Hazelnut Almond Raspberry Muffins caught my eye right away.
Head over to Baker Street to read the post and find the recipe for Focaccia with Roasted Red Peppers and Olives. Thanks so much to Anuradha for asking me to be a guest on her wonderful blog!
Focaccia with Caramelized Onion, Tomato & Rosemary Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 0.75 ounce package (2 ¼ teaspoon) dried yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt divided
- ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil divided
- 1 large onion thinly sliced
- 1 medium tomato cut into ¼-inch slices
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary needles removed from stem
- ⅓ cup packed finely grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, stir together yeast, warm water, and honey. Let rest until yeast blooms and bubbles form on top, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in flour, ¼ cup olive oil and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead until dough is smooth, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap, and let rest in a warm place until dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Remove dough from bowl and press it into a lightly oiled 9- by 13-inch baking sheet until it touches the edges. Using your finger, poke holes all over the dough. Drizzle the dough with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Let rest until the dough becomes puffy, about 20 minutes.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet set over medium heat. Add onion slices, cover and cook until onion is golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.
- Top the dough with tomato slices, caramelized onions, rosemary, Parmesan cheese, and salt. Drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil.
- Bake until the focaccia is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack. Cut into pieces and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Michel in Quebec
White flour again!
We have to get rid of that worthless stuff. I bought very nice certified organic pita a couple of months ago. Half is still in the refrigerator and will be thrown out on next garbage day. Just looked at it yesterday and there's a lot of nice-blue mold that's formed. Adds some colour. 🙂
It's organic white flour and I've now learned that I don't want that even if it's certified organic. It's worthless and yucky. I have a very difficult time eating it, being too accustomed to real and full breads.
And better than whole wheat is sourdough; far more digestably friendly for everyone, I've recently learned.
I also despise white table cloths, white shirts, ..., also underwear. A real man wears grey underwear, and uses dark-coloured table cloths and shirts, because he's usually a slob and slops spaghetti sauce all over the place. That's even when eating spaghetti with a fork AND spoon. Doesn't matter, the guy will polka-dot or redecorate anyplace, anything, in little time. Give the man anything to eat and soon your walls are redecorated, so you should use dark colours for the walls. That way the spots caused by men don't show up much. 🙂
And, no, I don't get spaghetti sauce on my underwear, but still don't like white underwear. Why should they be white? Better off going butt-naked. 🙂
We need to be rid of white flour, so also white bread, pita, .... Let's get some fullness, instead. After all, the nutrition for wheat is in the germ and bran, though mostly germ. The bran is good if you're suffering from constipation; a problem I seldom have. And this is an example of when germs are good for us. 🙂
The bland white flour is good for making mud huts. Maybe anyway. It acts like Elmers white carpentry or paper glue. It's only to hold other ingredients together; the nutritional ingredients; because white flour is garbage, or glue, depending on how you consider it. Okay everyone, start making your mud huts. And try not to eat them, for they're made with white flour.
Solution:
I don't have the websites bookmarked, but came across some over the past several months and they provide information about how to replace use of white flour, bleached flour, all-purpose flour with real, wholesome flour. So people interested in this and who invest a little time should be able to find the same or similar sources.
From what I recall, though only for people who can eat whole wheat flour, less than 1 cup is required for 1 cup of white flour (yucky stuff). It might be 1/2 or 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour for 1 cup of white flour, but I don't have the links, so people interested in this need to search for it.
For people allergic to gluten, there might be some solutions. Maybe sourdough will work and if not, or even if it works, maybe "flours" made from quinoa, millet, buckwheat (it isn't a wheat btw), brown rice, or chickpeas, f.e., might do.
Buckwheat isn't a wheat and wheat probably shouldn't be part of the name at all, imo, but it has been for a long time, so I guess we have to live with that.
WHFoods. com provides tips and a lot of other information. And no, I have no affiliation; only being a user or reader.
White flour is LOUSY!
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
I love focaccia and your roasted red pepper topping. Headed over to check out the recipe now!