Focaccia

We saw this recipe, surprisingly, in a French cookbook in the "Foreign Breads" section.  It sounded so good we made the easy decision to try it out.  We also had fun using the new kitchen scale we bought to measure out ingredients in metric units (and by weight instead of volume for solids).  The ingredients are pretty easy, as with most breads:  flour, water, yeast, salt, and olive oil.  There is a note below about the one less common ingredient (rosemary).

The bread turned out to very tasty, and as we were going over to my parents' house, we decided to bring one loaf over there for everyone to try.  It was well received - such that my dad was "OK" if we left what remained there.  For all the deliciousness, we do have a few notes:

• Dough consistency - I swear I followed the recipe to the 't', but the dough came out very wet.  I was supposed to "punch down" the dough and roll it out, but that wasn't happening.  Next time, I think I will add the water more slowly so that I can get the right consistency from the dough.
• Fresh rosemary to top - we did not have any, but our dried rosemary tasted just fine.  I'm sure the fresh herbs would be better, but it still is good with dried.
• There were a few steps to this, and so there was work to do over the several hours it takes to make.  You have some decently long breaks, but just be prepared to spend some time on it.

Conclusion - definitely a recipe to make again!

Photos!

Loaf number 1 out of the oven.

Loaf number 2 out of the oven.  We started with baking both at the same time with this one on the bottom rack, and then moved it up when the first loaf came out of the oven.

Loaf number 2 during slicing - this turned out to be a nice texture.

Le Cordon Bleu's Pâtisserie & baking foundations: classic recipes (2012), p. 322-323