I use to be afraid to make bread. So, instead of trying to make it, I would always buy it. I figured the time to make it wasn’t worth the effort. Plus, it was something readily available at the grocery store, so why bother? Then bread prices started soaring. Interestingly enough around that time, my palatte got a little bit more particular. The bread I was buying started tasting a little bit more gummy and I was not enjoying bread that much anymore. This from a girl who could survive in prison living on bread and water; I really love bread(s).

I eat a lot of salads during the summer months. They can be light like this one or loaded with just about any fruit and vegetable that I can find hiding in my refrigerator and decorated with a few herbs to give it that extra special “umph!” I like “umph” in my food. Fortunately, Darling D likes a little “umph” in his food too and so do my children. We are just a high accent kind of family.

My sister will say I’m quite boring and predictable and she would be right, but when it comes to bread, I get a little wild and don’t mind some bit of crazy going on in it. Focaccia bread does not strike me as wild and crazy, but it does happen to be one of my favorite breads. As you can see, I’m no longer afraid of making homemade bread. Working through your fears has absolutely delicious rewards.

Since I like to do all of my chopping/cutting before actually starting a recipe, I got all of that out of the way. Once the ingredient is chooped, I just set it aside until it is called for in the recipe.

The cooking process seems to move more smoothly by being able to just toss in the ingredients when called for in the recipe rather than having to stop and chop everytime I come to a new ingredient. Some of these ended up in my mouth instead of getting chopped. I think it must be the salt.

None of this ended up in my mouth instead of getting chopped.

This is fresh rosemary still not yet planted in the ground from my garden. It is so cool to be able to walk outside and grab the herbs I need for a recipe.

Instead of picking the leaves one by one off of the sprig, I start at the top of the sprig and run my fingers down (against the grain) and the leaves fall off. This is a lot quicker and fun.

I didn’t eat any of this either while chopping even though it smelled really good.

After all of that chopping, everything is finally ready to go. I put the flour in a medium size bowl.

Add the salt.

I like that the yeast goes in without out any prepping.

Toss in the garlic and rosemary.

Then add the olives. See how easy that was having everything chopped and ready? Mix all of these ingredients well together.

Next comes the EVOO (yes, we’re Rachael Ray cooking fans).

Add the warm water.

Start stirrin’ and mixin’ until your arm gets tired or until the dough looks a little something like this one here.

Put the dough on a floured work area and knead by hand until it looks like this. If you have a mixer, then that is fine too, but this kneading isn’t finger tiring or arm wearing.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover it with a dry dish towel. It needs to spend some quite time alone to ponder if it will rise or not. Hopefully, it will make the right decision.

After spending 45 minutes contemplating, my dough decided to rise just a little, but that is fine because a little is all you need. Place the dough on your floured work area again and knead and roll it into the shape you want for your bread.

Place it on an oiled pan and cover it with the same dish towel or like I did with a piece of plastic. You need to give the dough more quiet time; about 25 minutes.

This is optional, but it makes for an attractive piece of bread. After the dough has risen again, use your fingers to make fingertip indentations on the bread.

See. Doesn’t that look quite attractive? Wait until you see it after it comes out of the oven.

Drizzle EVOO over the top of the bread. Don’t worry if it puddles in the indentations. You can also use a cooking brush to spread the oil, if preferred.

Add more fresh rosemary on top of the bread and now it is ready to bake.

What did I tell you? This may be too beautiful to eat, but that NEVER stops me.

How You Do It:
1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Chop olives, garlic, and rosemary and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, add the flour, salt, and yeast, garlic, rosemary, and olives and mix well together.
4. Add the olive oil and warm water to the dry mixture and mix well. The dough will become a little stiff, but stir through it.
5. Put the dough on a floured work surface and knead for about ten minutes. If you have a mixer that can handle dough, then you might want to use it, but it isn’t necessary.
6. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and allow dough to rise for about 45 minutes.
7. Roll dough out into desired shape, but not too thin, and place on an oiled baking sheet. Cover with the dish towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise for another 25-30 minutes.
8. Using two fingers, make indentations all over the top of the dough.
9. Pour olive oil over bread.
10. Add more rosemary on top of the dough.
11. Bake the bread for about 25 minutes. It should have a hollow sound when tapped. That will let you know it is ready.
12. Optional: Add more olive oil. You may also want to prepare a balsamic vinegar and oilve oil mixture for dipping to serve on the side of the rosemary focaccia bread.