I couldn’t take much more of the incessant hounding by Hackers & Spammers to my old self hosted site (www.mrssmithmusings.com) and their unauthorised postings so i’ve come back to the safety of WordPress. They are a forgiving bunch.
It’s good to be back and already i’ve met some new friends and salvaged some old and learnt an awful lot along the way, namely i just want to write and not be bothered by all the technical stuff. I just don’t have a head for it.
With today my first day back blogging i decided to celebrate and try something that i’ve been meaning to get around to for a while. Home made Rosemary & Salt Focaccia.
I lifted the recipe from a magazine at my Gym (yes, i admit it’s wholly selfish of me to deprive whoever picks up the magazine after i’ve thumbed it….). It’s been sitting on my notice board and in my mental to-do list for a while. Never having made bread before the recipe seemed so straightforward and i am a lover of all things Rosemary & Salt. I have even grown a HUGE Rosemary pot in our garden which is over due a cutting now.
There is something magical about the smell of freshly baked bread that permeates my senses and leaves me a slavering wreck. I can’t pass the bread counter in our local supermarket without squeezing the hot tiger bread on the racks (yes, another of my many selfish qualities i’m admitting to, thumbing of bread i dont intend to purchase). Married with a dollop of butter and there you have a match made in heaven.
With my anger and irritation levels at an all time high after being powerless to stop the hackers and spammers, to soothe my soul and alleviate my blood pressure we made the bread. The girls and I. It was a lot of fun and a lot of mess with a two and half and a ten month old baby ‘helping’.
I can most certainly recommend this recipe and urge you to try it.
What’s needed:
450g strong white flour, plus extra to dust
7g sachet dry fast action yeast
2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to grease for the loaf
300ml hand warm water
1 tbsp olive oil for topping the loaf & drizzling over
1-2 Rosemary sprigs (& garlic cloves if you like that thing)
What to do:
* In a large bowl mix the flour with the yeast & some salt. Make a well in the middle, add the oil and gradually pour in the water, add more if needed to make a soft but not sticky dough.
* Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead gently for 8-10 minutes until smooth & elastic.
* Transfer dough into a large lightly greased bowl & cover. Leave somewhere warm for 50-60 minutes – the dough needs to double in size.
* After this gently fold dough back on itself four or five times trying to inject as much air into it as possible. Return to the bowl, cover & leave for another 10 minutes.
* Lightly grease a large baking sheet. I used baking parchment paper and putting on the sheet pull dough into a rectangle shape, or anything shape you care for. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave for 25-30 minutes. Put the oven on 200oC (180 fan / GMark 6).
* Brush dough with olive oil, make dimples with your fingers, i used the end of the brush i used for brushing with olive oil, scatter your sea salt and Rosemary & garlic.
* Bake for 25 mins or until golden.
It was utterly delicious and was sampled the moment it was lifted out of the oven, hence why i never got a photo of it whole except for before it was cooked…..
Already i have forgotten my troubles with my previous blog home…..as an architect friend told me once how to instantly feel at home?…bake bread…it is home personified.
Done.
P.S. For those of my readers who have followed me back to WordPress, please don’t forget to reset your browser with my new home address: MrsSmusings.wordpress.com or click on the top right handside, follow blog.
Mrs S Musings 