I love bread. There I admitted it. I also really enjoy making bread. I generally stick to my favorite, Challah or now and again I make English Muffin Bread but I’ve been trying some new recipes lately. Last week’s Great British Bake Off Bakealong challenge was to make crackers – I did and they were a pain in the tchukes. In my opinion they were not worth the effort so I’m not planning to share the recipe here unless someone really wants it. If you do, just let me know HERE and I’ll write it up. Otherwise, trust me when I say it’s easier to buy crackers. The one thing I did come away with was a reminder of how much I loved fresh rosemary and garlic together. So the next day I made Garlic Rosemary Focaccia Bread. Two days in a row my house smelled like heaven.

Garlic Rosemary Focaccia Bread

Makes three breads – recipe is adapted from Secrets of a Jewish Baker

3 small or 2 medium potatoes
1 cup warm water
1 heaping TBSP active dry yeast ( 1 1/2 pkgs)
1 1/2 eggs lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
5 1/2 to 7 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 TBS salt
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 stalk rosemary, striped and minced
coarse sea salt
olive oil for drizzling – optional

peel and quarter the potatoes. Place in a small pot and cover with at least 3 cups of water. Cook until the potatoes are still fork tender. You don’t want them mushy.
reserve 2 cups of the potato water, drain the potatoes and set aside to cool

Rice the potatoes in a mill or ricer
In the bowl of a stand mixer add the 1 cup of warm water. Sprinkle the yeast and let sit for a couple of minutes to soften. Attach the paddle
Add the eggs, the all purpose flour, 5 1/2 cups of bread flour, the salt, the potatoes and the potato water. It will be a wet sloppy mess.
Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough comes together. It will be a soft dough.
Remove the paddle and insert the dough hook. Knead on the first speed for 10 minutes.

Oil a large bowl and put the dough in the bowl and turn over. Cover and let rise for until doubled in size for 30 – 45 minutes.
Grease as many baking sheets as you will be using – the recipe makes three. The dough freezes beautifully.
Remove the dough from the bowl and punch down. Let rest for 15 minutes. Cut into three even pieces. If you are freezing dough do it at this time. Just wrap the dough in parchment and place in a zip bag and freeze.

Stretch and press the dough to fit the baking sheet (a half sheet pan).
Cover and let rise until puffed up, about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°
Using your fingers, poke the top of the dough to dimple
Evenly sprinkle the top of the dough with the fresh garlic and rosemary.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt as desired.
If desired, drizzle a little olive oil over the top of the bread. Do not use too much.
Bake in the preheated oven for until the bread has browned top and bottom. 35 – 40 minutes.
If you are baking more than one focaccia at a time, rotate the breads halfway through baking.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely

How Was the Garlic Rosemary Focaccia Bread?

It is really good bread. I found it delicious all on its own. I’ve had people suggest to dip it in olive oil – that was yummy as well. The yurt smelled like heaven while it was baking. I was also told that focaccia bread makes delicious pizza. I was feeling lazy one night so I tried it. It was quite yummy.

It was simply a matter of cutting the focaccia into pieces, then cutting them in half so that you have two thin focaccia base pieces. From there you proceed just like making any pizza; add sauce, toppings and cheese.