Baking | Rosemary + Sea Salt Focaccia w/ Olive Tapenade

Hi everyone! Today I've got a super easy recipe for delicious focaccia bread. In this recipe, I've topped my focaccia with fresh rosemary from my yard and sea salt. You can top yours with sun dried tomatoes, olives, sliced potato, fresh herbs, the options are endless. I used this recipe from a Spicy Perspective and changed it up slightly. The finished product was great, my whole family enjoyed it and we finished it off in a day. The exterior was hard and crusty and the interior was so soft. Perfect. I cursed myself for not making two loaves. 

I used a 10" round springform pan to bake my bread in. You could use something slightly larger and end with a bread that isn't quite as tall or you could just press your dough out on a flat baking tray and have a more rustic looking loaf. Just be sure to watch it in the oven.

Rosemary + Sea Salt Focaccia -

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Warm Water

2 Tsp Honey

1 Packet of Dry Active Yeast

1 1/2 Cups Cold Water

3 Tbsp Olive Oil + Extra

1 1/2 Tsp Sea Salt

1/2 Tsp Minced Garlic (or more if you prefer)

4 Cups All Purpose Flour

Salt + Pepper

Rosemary

Instructions:

1- In the bowl of your electric mixer, add your hot water and honey. Dissolve the honey by swirling the bowl around until the water is lukewarm. Add in your packet or dry active yeast and swirl around for about ten seconds. Set your bowl down for about ten minutes to allow the yeast to foam. 

2 - Once the yeast has foamed up a bit (after around ten minutes) add in your cold water, olive oil, salt and garlic. Turn your mixer on low, using the bread hook attachment and slowly add in the flour, scraping down the bowl between additions. Once the flour has all been added, continue mixing the bread on low for ten minutes. 

3 - Pull the dough away from the sides of the bowl to allow for some room to oil the bowls interior. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise for about two hours. After the dough has risen, turn the mixer back on for about thirty seconds.

4 - Thoroughly oil your baking dish (I used a 10" round springform pan) and press the dough down and spread it out. Once the dough is pressed down, add your toppings (I used rosemary, you could use olives, sun dried tomatoes, etc) and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5 - Cover the dough with a damp towel and let it sit for about one hour to rise again. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 35-40 minutes and the top is golden-brown. Let the bread cool before removing it from the baking dish and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from A Spicy Perspective 

To accompany the focaccia I also made a simple olive tapenade to spread. If you don't have a food processor you can just finely mince the ingredients and mix together.

Olive Tapenade -

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Green Olives

1/2 Cup Kalamata Olives

2 Cloves of Garlic
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tsp Lemon Juice

Black Pepper

Instructions:

1 - Add all the ingredients into a food processor and turn on for a few seconds. Be careful not to leave it on for too long, the tapenade should not be smooth but rather chunky. Store covered in your refrigerator until ready to use.

Thank you for reading this post! I hope some of you will try this recipe out as it is so tasty and pretty simple!

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