Focaccia Bruschetta

I have made focaccia before, but I found this more complicated recipe that I wanted to try...mainly because it was more complicated. I might have been able to bake it a little less time because it turned out really chewy and a little crispy at the edges, but overall, it was quite good. Depending on how salty you like, you could use less salt than is called for.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 c. flour
1 3/4 c. warm water
1 tsp. dry yeast
1 Tbs. coarse salt
1/4 c. plus 2 Tbs. olive oil

Mix flour, water, and yeast, cover bowl and let rise in warm place until mixture tripled in bulk and sponge-like, about 2 hours.
Add salt, mix it in well. Dough will be wet, slack, and very sticky.
Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface and keep your hands and tools well dusted. Gather and fold bottom edge of dough about 1/3 of the way up toward the center, pat down lightly to deflate slightly. Fold top edge down 1/3 toward center – the two folds should overlap slightly. Repeat with right and left sides, tap off excess flour as you go. Gently scoop up the dough and flip it over. Place in lightly floured bowl, smooth side up. Cover bowl and let rise in warm place about one hour.
Return dough to well-floured surface and repeat the folding process. Lightly flour mixing bowl and return dough, cover again and let rise another hour.

Preheat oven to 450F. Pour 1/4 cup of olive oil onto a 9x13” baking sheet, coating bottom completely. Return dough to well-floured surface and roll it out a bit. Place dough on prepared sheet. Flip dough over to thoroughly cover both sides with olive oil. Push dough to edges of sheet, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. With plastic wrap, continue to press out dough to fill the pan. Drizzle remaining olive oil over the top of the dough and sprinkle with salt.
Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until focaccia is evenly browned on top: 25-30 minutes. Slide it onto a wire rack and pour any oil left in pan on top of it.


We also made bruschetta to go with the focaccia. This is chopped up tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella, drizzled with just a tiny bit of olive oil and mixed together. It was good, but we had to use store-bought tomatoes. Make bruschetta this summer with fresh tomatoes and it will be much better!