Friends, carb lovers, and soup enthusiasts, lend me your… eyes? Okay, not too sure where I was going with that one. Maybe it’s the carbs talking? All I can presently think about is the way that roasted garlic smells when it’s mingling with rosemary and good olive oil. My heart does a little summersault as the focaccia bread bakes away unleashing the most delightful aroma. Then when you pull it out of the oven, you can hear just the faintest sizzle of the olive oil as it gently bubbles and kisses the outer crust until it’s golden brown. You use a serrated knife to slice into a hunk and notice how light the bread is. Tender and fluffy on the inside, golden and flaked with sea salt on the outside. As you tear off that first piece, you see the swirls of steam escaping. The edges are crispy, chewy and the inside is buttery and delicate. Bread is happiness. I’ll be the first one to tell you, for a while I found bread making to be tedious and slightly, okay, let’s be honest, SUPER stressful. As I get older, I realize tasks like breadmaking are so calming. There’s something so relaxing about putting a few ingredients together and making something entirely from scratch. Flour, water, yeast, and salt. It’s almost magical when these ingredients get together in a bowl. I love how the act of bread making allows you just to unplug from the world, roll up your sleeves, and get into the zone. Early morning baking with a little smooth jazz on in the background and a warm mug of coffee is how I’d choose to spend every day if it were up to me. Homemade focaccia loaded with roasted garlic cloves and topped with flaky sea salt makes me fall in love with food all over again. Focaccia bread, you’ve had it before, right? It’s thick and a little chewy. I hear people comparing it to pizza dough quite a bit, but to be honest, I’ve never had pizza dough that was soft and chewy like this focaccia bread. Typically it’s made with freshly chopped herbs, flour, and quite a few glugs of olive oil. The olive oil is what gives focaccia bread it’s decadent flavor. And though I’ve only ever dreamt of having authentic Italian focaccia, I imagine every nonna teaching her granddaughter to add copious amounts of olive oil until it’s luscious and buttery just like all the nonnas before her made it. Like traditional focaccia, today’s rosemary focaccia bread recipe has tons of rosemary in it. Usually, I err on the side of caution when it comes to rosemary because personally, I find it can go from adding earthy flavor to tasting like hand soap rather quickly. Maybe that’s just me. But even though we’re using a full tablespoon in today’s bread dough and then topping it with more rosemary, I have yet to make a batch that teetered on the verge of too much.
How to make the best roasted garlic focaccia bread:
Good rosemary focaccia bread is everything. The perfect companion to a bowl of soup, the Robin to your Batman when you need to mop clean homemade ragu, and the perfect base when you’re building a hearty eggplant parmigiana sandwich. Seriously, everyone I shared this focaccia bread with, starting with Anees, family, and friends, has LOVED it. Bread has a way of bringing people together at the table, so I urge you to share this little number with all those you love! xx
You can use all AP flour for this recipe or what I find yields slightly better results is using 1 1/4 cup bread flour with 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour. I suggest using the ‘spoon and level’ method when measuring out the flour. Here’s a video that shows you how to do that!A dryer is a great place for your bread dough to proof. Heat the dryer on high for 4-5 minutes, turn off the dryer. And place your bowl inside, and do not open the dryer for 1 hour.If you have a hand mixer with dough hook attachment, that will work just fine for this recipe. You can also use a bread dough machine to combine the dough or even just knead the dough with your own hands (about 12-14 minutes).
