Basil And Olive Oil Focaccia Food

BASIL-PARMESAN FOCACCIA WITH FRESH TOMATOES

Steps:

• Place the chopped onion in a bowl and pour boiling water over it. After 15 seconds, drain and blot dry with paper towels. Set aside.
• Combine the yeast with the half-cup of water. Add one and a half cups of the flour and mix. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured board and knead it for about eight minutes until it is smooth and elastic. Pour one tablespoon of the olive oil in a bowl, add the dough, turning once to cover with the oil. Drape a lightly dampened towel over the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk. This will take one and a half hours with rapid-rise yeast, or three hours with regular yeast.
• Punch down the dough, add the onion, a quarter-cup of water, three tablespoons of olive oil, the cup of Parmesan cheese, the remaining flour, the basil and two teaspoons salt, and mix. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead it for eight minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic, adding small amounts of additional flour if needed.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Roll the dough into a large circle measuring about 15 inches in diameter and about a quarter-inch thick, and transfer it to a heavy cookie sheet. Using your fingertips, make several indentations in the dough, so the surface is irregular. Brush with two tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle on two teaspoons of coarse salt. Bake in the top half of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the focaccia is golden brown and crisp. (You may prepare the recipe ahead to this point, but leave the baked focaccia at room temperature.)
• To prepare the topping, combine the olive oil, garlic, basil, salt and pepper. Lay the sliced tomatoes in an overlapping pattern on the focaccia and spoon the olive-oil mixture over them. Return the focaccia to the oven for two minutes. Sprinkle with three tablespoons of Parmesan and return the focaccia to the oven just until the cheese is melted and lightly browned, about one to two minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into large slices. Serve.

BASIL FOCACCIA

Steps:

• Whisk together 3 cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add warm water and mix well. If dough is too sticky, mix in another 1/2 cup flour.
• Oil a bowl. Fill another, larger bowl halfway with hot water.
• Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Form into a ball and place in the oiled bowl, turning to coat all sides with oil. Place the oiled bowl in the bowl of hot water. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Oil a 9x13-inch baking pan.
• Turn dough out onto a floured surface and let rest for 5 minutes. Transfer dough to the prepared baking pan. Press and dimple with your fingers to even out the thickness and work it into the corners to fit. Brush lightly with olive oil, then sprinkle with garlic salt, Parmesan cheese, and finally basil.
• Bake in the preheated oven until deep golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cut into 8 squares.

BASIL AND OLIVE OIL FOCACCIA

Steps:

• Dissolve the yeast and sugar in half of the water.
• On a large surface or large bowl, make a pile of the flours and salt with leave a well in the centre.
• Pour all the dissolved yeast mixture into the well and mix together the flour and water with a fork or fingers. Work from the centre and outward. Add the other half of the water when all the mixture gas soaked up. (more or less water could be used).
• Dust your hands and the surface with some flour. Kneading, rolling, pushing and folding for about 5mins.
• Push the dough into a round shape and dust it over with some extra flour. Put it in a large bowl and score the dough top with a knife.
• Cover with clingfirm, leave it to prove for about 40mins to one and a half hour. (Now it is very important to leave the dough in a warm area, I normally leave it under the sun light or I will bring it into the shower with me -- wherever is warm and moist.) When you see the dough has double its size then it is done.
• Now make the topping with a glove of garlic and a handful of basil ( I used tried Basil). Add together with about 3 tbsp or more of Olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper and bit of lemon juice.
• After the dough has double its size then start kneading and punching for a min -- (just think of whoever you hate at that time).
• Split the dough in half, roll each dough to an oval shape about 1/2" thick. Place it on a flour dusted baking tray and smear the basil topping on both tops. Push fingers deeply into doughs to make holes, allowing the flavor to penetrate.
• Leave it to prove the second time for about 45mins or when it become around 3cm high.
• Gently place the baking tray in the middle of the oven ( I baked them one by one, or bake them all together if one single baking tray is big enough) I bake them for about 10mins with 240°C You will know when they turn golden brown.
• Give the bread a good drizzle of some E.V. Olive Oil right after they are out of the oven. Let it cool and enjoy.

HERB OIL FOCACCIA

Steps:

• First make the starter dough - mix the yeast with 100ml hand-hot water in a small bowl. Leave for 5 mins until bubbling. Add the flour to a large bowl, and pour in the yeast mix and another 250ml hand-hot water. Beat vigorously with your hand for a few mins. (The dough will be really wet but don't worry, you'll be adding more flour later.) Scrape all the dough from your hands and the sides of the bowl. Cover tightly with cling film and leave to ferment in the fridge for at least 12 hrs, overnight if possible.
• Meanwhile, make the herb oil. Set aside 2-3 sprigs each of rosemary and thyme, plus a few bay leaves. Bash the rest using a pestle and mortar (or use a rolling pin) to release the flavours, then stuff into a large sterilised bottle or Kilner jar, or a few jam jars (see tip, right). Heat the oil in a saucepan until just warm, then carefully pour into the bottle using a funnel. Leave to cool before securing with a lid.
• Take the starter dough out of the fridge about 1 hr before you want to make your focaccia - it should have risen considerably. To finish the dough, mix in the additional flour, the sea salt and herb oil until it's soft yet slightly sticky. Knead the dough with extra oil for 5 mins until smooth and springy. Return to a clean, warm bowl and leave to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hr.
• Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Turn the risen dough onto a deep oiled baking tray (about 20 x 30cm) and press to a rectangle about 2cm thick. Break the reserved herbs into smaller bits and push them into the dough. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise until doubled in size.
• Once risen, press lots of holes into the dough with your fingers. Brush the top with a little more herb oil and sprinkle over some rough sea salt. Fill a shallow tray with some water and put in the bottom of the oven, with the bread on a shelf above. Bake for 25 mins until golden, reducing the temperature to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 if the bread starts to brown too much. Remove from the oven, scatter over the reserved herbs and bake for another 10-15 mins until cooked through. Cool on a wire rack until ready to eat. Tear into chunks and dip in more herb oil, if you like.

FRESH MOZZARELLA, BASIL, TOMATO FOCACCIA

Steps:

• Thaw and allow frozen pizza dough to rest.
• Balsamic Glaze: Put 1.5 cups aged balsamic vinegar and sugar in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring. When it becomes syrupy, take off heat and put into another dish.
• Chill for 30 minutes.
• Once frozen dough thawed and rested, stretch or roll out dough to be about 1/4 thick in an almost rectangle shape.
• Lay on pizza sheet and brush on 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle all of the dough with garlic salt and the parmesan cheese.
• Bake in a 425 degree oven for 8 minutes.
• Pull out and poke the dough several times with a fork.
• Put back into the oven for an additional 4-5 minutes or until golden brown.
• Slice fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and chop basil.
• Arrange mozzarella and tomatoes on foccacia and sprinkle with lots of fresh basil. Drizzle remaining olive oil over the top. Use extra virgin or any good olive oil.
• Drizzle with Balsamic glaze and serve with extra balsamic glaze for dipping.