Cooking in KC: Daily Bread : Herby Focaccia Bread and Pizza Dough

It's Sunday, and I’m baking bread. Remember when carbs were evil, and the Atkin’s diet was huge? Reign of Terror. I love carbs, oh so much. I don’t eat pasta seven days a week or anything, but if I were Maria in The Sound of Music, I would be singing about spaghetti, Lucky Charms, and blueberry muffins--not raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. So to prep for my week, I’m making herby focaccia bread and pizza dough which are about identical recipes, just slightly different preparations.

Oh, and it's all easy (and cheap).

Each recipe makes 2 batches of dough. You can freeze this dough for up to 2 weeks or keep it in the fridge for a few days.

Let's get started. I made both doughs at the same time because I like efficiency. Tip: if you don't have a warm place for the dough to rise, turn your oven to it's lowest setting (170° in my case) and crack it open.

Waiting for dough to rise.

Admission: my first focaccia bread turned into flatbread. This is probably for a few reasons: I pressed it too thin, cooked it too long, and used bread flour. You’ll get chewier bread using all-purpose flour—which I suppose might function better for focaccia bread—but I like a crunchy crust on my bread. For this reason, I highly recommend using bread flour for your pizza dough. Your call though!

Here is my first focaccia, i.e. flatbread. About twice a week, Dane and I just eat a huge salad for dinner, sometimes with bread on the side—enter flatbread.

"I meant to do that."

Here is my second focaccia—less flat and more bread.

Size reference : if you don't want flatbread, the dough needs to be about hand - size in diameter.

Finished product!

Tip: I added my own assortment of dried herbs to the focaccia--it makes a difference. Pioneer Woman only uses rosemary in the dough; I sprinkle rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, garlic powder, and salt—basically half of my spice rack—over the dough right before it bakes.

Fast-forward a few days: pizza night! Toppings of choice include homemade red sauce (post coming soon), Italian sausage, roasted bell peppers, and mozzarella cheese.

Keep in mind that when you start patting out your pizza dough, it will be difficult to stretch if it’s straight outta your fridge. If it just continually shrinks back on you, give it a few minutes to rest. You’ll get there.

Ready for sauce!

Tip: brush the dough with olive oil to keep it from getting too soggy and don’t overload the pizza with toppings—which I always do. It’s okay, I’m getting better.

Nom, nom, nom.

Tip: check the the expiration date on your cheese. I may or may not have almost sprinkled green cheese on my pizza. :/

I use these baking instructions since the recipe above didn’t include any (what??? I know). For my ancient and ugly oven, 18 minutes at 450° does the job.