Bread Machine Focaccia

Please welcome with me my friend Lisa from the blog Stop and Smell the Chocolates where she encourages us to slow down and enjoy the richness of life. While at her blog, you might have Tea for Two-sday. Or she may ask you, "Would you like chocolate with that?" She may just be a little silly or serious. You just never know. But I do know that Lisa is a sweet soul who loves Jesus, her family and chocolate - and probably in that order... maybe.


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When I knew I would be writing a guest post for Donna, I thought it would make sense to write about food (though her blog is about so much more than that). She’s been showing all that beautiful bread lately, so it was on my mind! I happened across a bread machine cookbook in a thrift store a couple days ago and then I knew! I am too intimidated to make bread all the way from scratch - that is way more homemade than I am used to! But I have a bread machine and I do know how to use it - a little. So here is my little more homemade bread. :)

I decided to try making focaccia bread. It sounded a little easier, quite yummy, and the recipe called for fresh herbs - I have an abundance of fresh rosemary in the front yard. Fresh Herb Focaccia it is!

Hi bread machine! Long time, no see!

Got it all dusted off and then proceeded. I put the ingredients in the pan in the order listed.

Liquid Ingredients
1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Dry Ingredients
3 cups bread flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar

Yeast
2 ¼ teaspoons Active dry yeast

I set the machine to the Dough setting. When it was done, I had to punch the dough down by shutting off the machine and restarting the kneading for just 60 seconds. Then I removed the dough and let rest for 5 minutes.



Then I had to do the hand-shaping: Sprinkle hands with flour. With fingertips, spread dough evenly into a 13x9x1 in. lightly oiled baking pan. Cover with a clean kitchen cloth. Let rise until doubled in height, about 30-60 minutes.

Almost done: Preheat oven to 400 F. Make light indentations with your fingertips in the surface of the risen dough. Brush with 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with up to 2 teaspoons coarse salt (kosher or sea salt) and fresh ground black pepper to taste. Add ¼ cup chopped fresh herbs, if desired. Bake on bottom rack of oven (oops - I missed that part!) for approximately 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool in pan. Cut into 12 equal pieces and serve at room temp.





I have to say that this bread is yummy! My son already told me he wanted to eat the whole pan! And once hubby gets hold of it, I think I’ll have more requests to make bread.

Thanks Donna for inspiring me to step outside of my comfort zone and try to be a little more homemade!

Lisa @ Stop and Smell the Chocolates

You can also find Lisa blogging at her Healthy blog, Stop Eating all the Chocolates and on twitter @stop4chocolate.


Bread machine focaccia works for Lisa and I'm thinkin' it's gonna work for me. To find other works for me posts, visit Kristen at We Are THAT Family.