Fresh Foccacia Bread

I always thought that you need a bread machine in order to make fresh bread at home. Boy, was I wrong! You don't need no machine when you got two of the best utensils in the kitchen- your hands! Making foccacia bread is just as easy as making pizza dough, maybe even a little easier! Here's the recipe for the foccacia that I made.

1 medium baking potato

3.5-4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

4 tbsp olive oil + 2 tbsp for garnish

1 cup warm water

Garnishments of your choice: olives, rosemary, sundried tomatoes, cheese, etc.

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Boil the potato for about 25 minutes. Drain. When cool enough to handle, peel and grate the potato.

2. In your working bowl, combine the yeast and sugar with the warm water. Cover and let stand for anywhere between 10-20 minutes. (I don't think it really matters the amount of time. I tried both ways and the bread turned out the same.)

3. Begin making the dough by adding 2.5 cups of flour to the foamy water. Mix well. Add the salt, grated potato, 4 tbsp olive oil and remaining 1 cup flour. Knead, adding 1/4 more flour as needed until you have a soft dough.

4. Grease a 9x13 baking dish with olive oil. Pat the dough down into the tray. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise for about 1-1.5 hours. I placed the dough uncovered in the oven with the oven light on for 1.5 hours.

5. After the allocated time has lapsed, take the dish out of the oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Meanwhile, wet your two fingers and made about 2 dozen indentations on the top of the dough . Drizzle about 1-2 tbsp olive oil directly on the dough. Turn the pan side to side so that the oil finds its way into the indentations that you made. Garnish with desired toppings (sliced black olives, rosemary, sliced tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, cheese, etc.)

6. Bake in preheated oven for 23-25 minutes.

The final result is perfection! Now, you are probably wondering how two people managed to finish that whole big loaf. The many different ways foccacia can be enjoyed are as follows: Grilled Vegetable Sandwich, (Garlic or regular) breadsticks with soup, or as the crust for the ultimate bread pizza (recipe coming up soon)! This recipe is definitely one of my favorites, one that I will be passing down to Little A. I urge everyone to try it!!