Saturday, December 7, 2013

Basil & Rosemary Focaccia Bread

I saw this beautiful bread in Anushruti's blog. It was irresistable!! and had to make it at once. The focaccia had all my favorite ingredients... basil, rosemary, loads of olive oil...But I found the maida to be li'l too much, so made little tweaking here and there to suit our palate. This recipe is definitely a keeper...everyone at home enjoyed it very much.



Ingredients

Instant yeast - 2 tsp (i used little more than the original recipe since I was using atta)
Milk - 1 1/3 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp

Combine lukewarm milk and sugar. Sprinkle yeast over it and keep it aside for almost 10 minutes.

Whole wheat flour (I used Ashirwad Atta) - 1 1/2 cups
All purpose flour - 1 3/4 cups
Salt - 2 tsp
Olive oil - 3 tbsp (slight variation from original recipe which called for 2 tbsp, just because I love olive oil)

Attach dough hook to the stand in mixer. Sieve and add whole wheat flour to the bowl. Add maida, salt and olive oil. Give it a good mix. Add the yeast mixture and knead the mixture for about 5 minutes. I didn't need to add any more water, and the dough consistency (smooth and pliable) was perfect. Take it out of the bowl and knead with your hand for couple of minutes more. Slightly dust a clean surface and roll the dough in a rectangular shape. Slightly grease a 9 X 12" baking tray (using olive oil) and place the rolled out dough in this. Press and spread using your palms to fit in the tray. Cover with an aluminium foil and place it in a warm place for about 1 1/2 to 2 hrs till it doubles the volume.



Meanwhile prepare the herb infused olive oil, as mentioned below.

 

Olive oil - 1/4 oil
Basil leaves - 8 leaves , chopped
Rosemary (I used fresh) - 2 small sprigs
Garlic - 1 pod, crushed

Heat the olive oil and switch off when warm. Add the herbs and garlic in the oil and keep it aside for about an hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees.

Once the dough has doubled, make equal spaced indentations with your forefinger. Spoon in the herb mixture along with oil to these indentations and also brush the surface with oil.




Place it in the oven and bake for about 15 min. If you are using only maida, then baking time may vary between 18-20 min. In case of using atta, you need to be careful about the time as atta gets baked pretty fast, after which it hardens.

Enjoy it with your favorite stew or olive oil or just like that (like I did).

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