Simple Focaccia Bread

Focaccia is a delicious and very simple bread to bake. It has a heavy olive oil presence, which makes it fantastic as a dipping bread for clams/mussels, a great garlic bread and excellent for sandvich! One of the main calling cards with focaccia is that it's got a very craggy look and feel to it. Unlike other bread doughs, when you're spreading this dough out, you will be spreading your fingers and actually creating holes for the olive oil to hide out in as well as providing lift for the bread as it rises in the oven.

This does take time to prepare, as the dough must rise twice before you bake. Look to set aside 2 hours for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 extra cup all-purpose flour for kneading

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon coarse sea salt (or more, depending on how salty you want your bread)

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (divided)

Activate yeast by combining water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Set bowl in a *warm* place (not hot) and leave for at least 15 minutes. Yeast should be bubbling.

In large bowl combine flour, kosher salt, 1/2 cup of olive oil and yeast. Knead until dough comes together.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured, hard and stable surface. Knead for another 5 to 6 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and soft. If the dough is overly sticky and tacky, add a sprinkle of flour to it and continue kneading. Make sure to lightly add flour to your kneading surface if dough begins to stick.

NOTE: You can over-work dough by kneading it too much. So don't beat the crap out of it.

Coat inside of a medium sized bowl with olive oil. Place dough in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, about an hour.

Coat a jelly roll pan or a lipped cookie sheet with the remaining 1/2 cup (yes, 1/2 cup) of olive oil.

Place onto a jelly roll pan or lipped cookie sheet and begin pressing it out to fit the pan. Flip the dough over to coat the other side and continue pressing. As you begin to get the dough to fit, start spreading out your fingers to make holes. You do not want your bread to be perfectly smooth. You will want to make actual holes in the dough.

Place the sheet in a warm spot and let rise for another hour. It will, again, double in size.

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

Add coarse sea-salt to the dough and drizzle a small amount of olive oil along the top.

Bake until the top is golden brown. About 25 - 30 minutes.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Let cool completely before serving. Cutting it open too early will release the delicious.

Enjoy!!