I Knead More Foccacia

Looking for a new recipe and something to cook the other day, I went on my grandma's Pintrest to see what I could cook for her. I found this recipe, and decided to give it a shot. I've only made bread/dough a few times before- and I'm always up for a cooking challenge!

It is a pretty time consuming recipe, but oh-so-rewarding to say you made the dough and foccacia from scratch! This is a great appetizer, or meal- I nearly ate the whole thing myself for lunch once I finished it!

Here's what you need for this awesome Carmelized Onion, Olive and Rosemary Foccacia:
(Recipe from In Pursuit of More, via Pintrest)

The Dough:

• (2 tsp) active dry yeast
• (2 cups) warm water
• (3 tsp) sugar
• (3) tsp salt
• (4) cups flour all-purpose
• (4 tbsp) olive oil

The Toppings:

• (1) medium yellow onion or(1/2) a large sweet onion, sliced lengthwise thinly
• (1 tsp) salt
• (1 tsp) sugar
• (1 cup) of large black olives (I used Kalamata)
• (2-3) sprigs fresh rosemary - (Luckily my grandma has a bush in her front yard-score!)
• plenty of olive oil (1/4-1/2 cup)

 Add some sugar to add a little extra Mmmm!

After making the dough, you have to let it rise for an hour or so. During this time, have a glass of iced tea, turn on some good music, and dance around the kitchen for a little bit- then continue onto the toppings. (*dancing optional to the success of this recipe) I then carmelized the onions with a little olive oil, which actually takes like 25-30 minutes. I didn't realize this, so give yourself time between getting your groove on and waiting for the dough to rise. Then cut the olives and the rosemary so you have them ready to sprinkle atop your delicious homemade bread! 

Let the dough rise, covered, in a warm place, until it looks like this!

After the dough has risen, punch out the air, cut it in half and save the other half for another treat later! You can roll out the dough in any shape you please, they did a traditional rectangle, I made a circular shape... whatever you please! Then add the onions, olives and rosemary on top and liberally shake some olive oil on top- this adds the moisture so don't be shy with it! 

Bake at 400 for around 20-25 minutes until its nice and golden! Next, cut and enjoy with the ones you love- or enjoy with yourself, all at one time, or save for lunch the next day! You're sure to impress everyone when you say you made it from scratch, so bring part to work and wait for the oooo's and ahhhh's come your way! I dipped it in some balsamic vinegar and it made it that much better, because I am slightly obsessed with balsamic!

If you are new to bread making and working with dough and yeast, please check out the original post here and the directions are super detailed and really helpful! 

Hope you try it and impress yourself, you Iron Chef, you!

Alex

Yummy, walnut banana bread!

Even when it's unbearably hot outside, there's not much better than a warm treat and some cold milk or iced coffee. So when the group of bananas turned far too brown to eat continued to sit on the counter, I took it as a signal I needed to bake some Banana bread!
Here's the recipe I used, taken right out of my grandma's recipe box!


1/2 cube of butter
1/2 cube or 1 T of margarine
1 C sugar
2 eggs well beaten
4 T buttermilk (I just used regular milk!)
3-4 verrryyyy ripe bananas
2 C flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 t soda
1 t vanilla
1/4 C nuts (I added more, the more nuts the merrier!)



Cream butters and sugar, add eggs and mix thoroughly. Add alternately bananas and dry ingredients . Finally add vanilla and nuts! I put this into two separate loaf pans and made two, or you could make one large one- it's up to you! I brought one to work so I couldn't eat the whole thing myself- because I definitely would have! I sprinkled some nuts on top, and would suggest a little cinnamon for something a little extra.

Let me know if you try this! And sit back and indulge in some delicious banana bread!
Happy Monday!
Alex