Olive Rosemary Focaccia

One of the great luxuries of being retired is having the time to bake bread without having to worry about massaging it around your work schedule. The other morning, Ann said that she'd like to have focaccia for dinner and went in the kitchen to put the dough together while I went outside for a couple of sprigs of rosemary.

Kalamata Olive and Rosemary Focaccia

Focaccia or fougasse as it is known in Provence is one of the very simplest breads to make. I think Ann has some kind of recipe for it in her head, but I don't really know. When I make focaccia, I just put a cup of water in a bowl and make a wet dough from that with a glug of olive oil, some salt, and a mere sprinkling of yeast. It really is that difficult.

Flour, Salt, Yeast, Rosemary, Olives

Ann doesn't even knead her dough; she merely stirs it around with a fork until it is a wet shaggy mass. At this point, she covers it and lets the yeast do its thing. Me, I give my dough a few turns. Why? Because I like to feel the dough on my hands.

Dough, After Third Rise

After Ann put the dough together, I put it outside in the shade to rise, it being pretty warm out and pretty chilly still inside from the cool overnight temperatures. During the afternoon, I knocked it down for two more rises. After the third rise, I put it on a sheet tray in a 425F oven and baked it until it was golden brown all over.

Why three rises? Because that's what suited our schedule. We weren't ready to eat at the end of two rises, so three it was. Making bread is not rocket science and there is no one-size-fits-all formula. But it sure is nice to have the time to let it rise leisurely and not have to contort our day to work it in.