Rosemary Focaccia

I have a new super power. I make bread on my lunch break. It's pretty super. I took the recipe from the Betty Crocker cook book. I think I might try to make bread everyday for a week...Not this week. Maybe next. People around here do love their sourdough. Maybe I should make a starter... And while you wait here is the recipe for the Rosemary Focaccia.

Gather toogether:

• 1 cup warm water
  
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 1/2-3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
  
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed (optional)
  
• 1 tablespoon rosemary--crunched up
• 1tsp honey
  

Put the yeast in the warm water with the honey. Allow the yeast to bubble for about 5 minutes. In your kitchen aid mixer bowl (with the bread hook attached to the mixer) add 1 c. of the flour, salt, sugar, rosemary and olive oil. Once the yeast has done its thing then add that to the flour mixture and mix on medium for 3 minutes. Slowly add more flour and flax seed. Keep mixing until the dough pulls from the sides (that means makes one big lump). Pull the dough out and knead the dough for 6-8 minutes. You could let the dough hook do this, but I like the way warm dough feels. It's therapeutic. Put the kneaded dough in a greased bowl and allow to double. This takes about an hour maybe longer if your house is drafty.
(notice the pretty flax seed in the dough--pretty and healthy too!)

Once the dough has doubled punch it down and cut in to 2 pieces. Shape the dough on to 2 greased cookie sheets. Allow to double again--this time for about 30 minutes. Make indentations in the dough with your fingers about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top (or garlic powder) Bake for 15-20 minutes in a 400 degree oven. (Do not accidentally put the oven on broil--it will burn the bottom of the bread. This will make you sad. At least, it made me sad. )

Eat. Between Aaron, Saramay and myself we ate one whole loaf. It wasn't completely burned on the bottom, just crustier on the top. It was still pretty good.

Blood Orange Bread

Erin and I wanted to make a blood orange cake. We searched and searched an the only thing we could find was the Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake. (We had already tried the Anticraft Blood orange cake, but again without having poppyseed filling.) This sounded wrong on so many levels. So we went with more of a bread instead.

Gather together:

• Butter for greasing pan
• 3 blood oranges (segmented without membranes)
  
• 1 cup sugar
• Buttermilk
  
• 3 large eggs
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup of butter
• 1/4 cup blood orange juice

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray your loaf pan down with Pam or butter or use your misto. Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs, buttermilk and juice. Next slowly add in all the dry ingredients. When this is mixed up pretty well, fold in the blood oranges. Put mixture in to pan and allow to bake for 55 minutes.


We served this with a simple syrup make from sugar and blood orange juice. This turned out more like orange muffins than like a cake. I bet it would make pretty good muffins.