Simple Bake Focaccia Bread

Do you love Pizza? many people do.Focaccia happens to be an Italian Pizza Like Bread ,very tasty and one can employ a variety of toppings the only difference between the two types of bread perhaps being the amount of yeast employed and thick crust of the Focaccia Bread.

Focaccia is an easy and simple bake kind of bread and requires less skill in making than a typical pizza bread.It is very tasty and hardly takes time.I find it to be the most simple and perhaps the recommended bread type that a novice should first try their hand at.

In this post i will give a simple recipe of an Olive Oil Focaccia Bread topped with Tomato(Sun Dried preferably) and Rosemary.You can use a variety of other toppings dependent on your liking and taste buds but this simple recipe can work as a guideline.As a cook i will always encourage you to play around with the ingredients and tweak recipes so as to get what can truly be called your unique creation.There's nothing as good as knowing that whatever you have cooked has your authentic signature.It belongs to you and is not a copy cat act.Here goes:

Olive Oil Focaccia Bread Topped With Sun Dried Tomato and Rosemary Herb 

 

 

Ingredients:

1. General Purpose Flour       5 1/3 Cups or 680gms  (Variation 500 gms flour +180gms Semolina Flour)
                                              This is what i used.Makes it crunchy and flavorful.
2. 1 Level Tablespoon Salt     14gms will do.
3. 1 Tablespoon of Sugar        14 gms will do , adjust to your taste(Traditional recipes do not have sugar but                                           this is Africa we love our bread with some taste)
4.  2 cups of  Warm Water  or 400ml
5. 1 Satchet of Angel Instant Dry Yeast  11g(if in Kenya buy the one in a yellow box has better flavour) if not using Angel Instant Dry yeast substitute with 14 gms of any other brand Instant Dry Yeast .
6.  50 ml Olive Oil or 1/4 cup , you can substitute with any other type of  neutral cooking oil though you will suffer loss in flavor and aroma

For Toppings:

Three or Four sprigs of Rosemary Leaves.A can of sun dried tomatoes(due to high price and availability i do with homegrown  medium size or cherry tomatoes, halve them and brush with tomato paste and voila !there you have it rich tomato flavour that will taste equally as good as some of those sun dried tomato brands on your supermarket shelf.Good cooks/Chefs think outside the box).

Method:

Mix the warm water with Olive Oil.

Mix the dry ingredients i.e Flour, Salt, Sugar and Yeast in your mixing bowl, make sure they are well mixed.
Make a well in the flour and with your fingers widely spread resembling a fork pour the oil water mixture while incorporating the flour in middle.The dough will start coming together though sticky and tacky at first(You can use a commercial mixer with the dough attachment for around 3 to 5 minutes until the dough comes into a mass). Once the dough has come together, let rest for about 3 minutes.Dust your kneading surface lightly with flour .Dont use too much flour as your dough will absorb extra flour and become dry loosing its spring/rise quality when baked. Good bread dough must be well hydrated.Knead the dough  well for around 10 minutes to develop gluten strands.Once well knead ,lightly oil your bowl  place the dough,cover with thin cling film or cotton kitchen towel dusted with flour and let the dough rise in a warm area(proofing) for 30 to 60 minutes or until it doubles in size.

For tips on Kneading there are a number of videos on Youtube that can make your work pretty easy in a giffy.

After the dough has risen transfer to a lightly oiled and slightly salted 12 by 9 Inch square baking ting.Lightly knead and spread it to fil the the tin evenly.Using your middle index finger make finger holes on the dough in straight lines or any other preferable pattern. In the impressions put sprigs of Rosemary and the tomato pieces according to your preferable pattern.

Finally, lightly spray or pour olive oil on the top ,you may pour some little salt and freshly ground black pepper on the surface top.Bake in already preheated oven at 200 Degrees Centigrade (gas mark 6) for around 30 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Once cooked remove from oven and baking tin and let rest on wire rack to avoid sweating.

Freshly Baked Focaccia Bread Resting on Wire Rack

There you have it, that's how i made my easy bake Focaccia bread as you can see in the photo it looks good and taste's real yummy.My wife carried it to work and all her colleagues couldn't help but ask for the tiniest morsels ,its so good you should try it!

Choosing and Using a Good Chef Knife

A good knife is a mandatory requirement for good cooking and that's not an understatement.A good knife is also key to safety in the kitchen and this post will explain why.
 I have visited so many kitchens, watched and cooked with many homegrown caterers and many a times i have been thoroughly disappointed with the knives so much so that i always carry my chef knives any time i know i will be cooking somewhere ;save for when i am with Chef Kevo of Kevs Kitchen/Mocha Loco .

So good people out there as we begin year 2014 make it your resolution to get a good pair of steel knives and this maiden post this year will give you hints on how to select and use a good knife.

Selecting a Good Chef Knife:

Before selecting a Chef Knife you need to know the parts of a knife:

A good knife should basically enable you to carry out various tasks in the kitchen with minimal effort or exertion.Generally, the length should be between  15 to 36 centimeters and the blade width at least between 1 1/2 inches and 3 inches.Japanese knives have a much wider width length and require good technique in  order to fully exploit their potential.The best knives are made of high carbon stainless steel, carbon in them makes them easy to be extremely honed for a sharper edge and the steel removes corrosive effect of carbon.This are generally very very expensive!Dont fall for an imitation that uses this description.

 If you are in Kenya , Nakumatt Supermarkets have very good selections of Chef Knives ,the ideal ones are costly and may set you back around Kenya Shillings 2000 to 3,000 bob. However they have cheaper knives Rossetti brand being my personal favourite which go for less than Kshs 1,000/=. Ladies invest in one...there is no excuse for a bad knife!

The handles may be steel, plastic or wooden but ensure that the inside blade or tang goes all the way round including the handle(see the picture adjacent )if you are unable to see the blade go all round the handle that is probably a cheap knife and will certainly at some stage prove cumbersome to handle.Invest in a good knife it will give you the confidence and will prove safer when handling.We usually use more energy with blunt objects than with sharp ones that in itself may increase risk cutting oneself.If you have a sharp too and know how to handle it well you will minimize the risk of cutting oneself.

How to Hold A Chef Knife

It takes less that 10 seconds for a  professional chef to gauge if you know how to cook or what you are doing based on how you handle your knife.Now that's a tip that you can take to the bank!

 Most of us hold a knife as shown above ,while opinion may vary this is basically the wrong way to do it.The best way is to lay the handle flat against the tip of your fingers then roll back closing your fist.No part of your finger should hold the blade.Ensure the tip of the blade is on the cutting board while you raise the handle in a pivot motion.Make sure the knife is balanced and stable then cut with a rocking motion i.e going forward and drawing it backward.This ensures you use the least energy.Learn to hold the handle only ,if need be you may also hold the bolster or "choke up"the knife with your index finger and thumb striding the blade but not on top of it .With practice this may be possible however if impossible to master the technique then you may hold it as above but ensure whatever the technique you are comfortable and relaxed.

You also need to know how to handle the items you are cutting ,but that will be a subject for a future post*.I have also not talked of sharpening and honing knives(these two terms refer to two different things ),that will also be elaborated  in a future post.For today ,i hope your new years resolution will be to get a new set of knives and that this post has helped in tipping you on how to select a good knife.

NB : In collaboration with Prompt Foods we now offer customized cookery listen for Nairobi residents and its environs.Drop a message on our Facebook page for inquiries!

Enjoy your new year and lets culinate allez Cuisine(Lets Cook)!