Lemon and Sea salt Focaccia

So I woke up this morning with an absolute craving for this recipe I tried  last week.And because I have stuffed myself full of salty-lemony goodness,I felt it’s only right to share this awesomeness with the world.

My dog doesn’t agree.She wants me to go for a walk when it’s raining.

Like this.

No,thank you.

I’d much rather surround myself with the delicious smell of bread baking.

Why yes..It really is this awesome.

 And it is difficult to mess it up.A godsend really, given my penchant for simply forgetting to add ingredients.

Besides flour,which can be either all purpose or whole wheat…I’ve tried both and it works equally well,you need yeast,water,salt and…

Lemons!

Sea salt!

And the original recipe also includes rosemary but I decided to skip it cause I couldn’t wait.’

Sue me.

Lemon and Sea salt foccacia

Adapted from Girl versus dough

Note: The measures given here are half of the original recipe.

This gives 2 8-inch round loaves.

1tsp active dry yeast

2tbsps. Extravirgin olive oil

250 gms whole wheat flour

1tsp salt

2 lemons slices into thin rounds

coarse sea salt.

Method:

1.In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast with 1/4 cup lukewarm water; let stand 5 minutes until foamy. Add 3/4 cups lukewarm water and 2 tablespoons olive oil and stir.
2.In a large bowl , combine flour and salt. Add yeast mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Knead dough on a lightly floured countertop until smooth, about 5 minutes. Shape dough into a ball and place in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Roll dough in oil and cover bowl lightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

3.Brush  2 8-inch round cake pans and punch down dough. Spread dough with fingers to cover the entire inside bottom of  cake pans. The dough might resist a bit, but with a little persistence it’ll start to behave. Cover with a damp towel and let rise until puffy, about 30-45 minutes.

4.Meanwhile, thinly slice some lemon and get out some coarse sea salt.

5. Preheat oven to 230C.  Poke the puffy bread lightly with your fingertips to form dimples,then drizzle it with olive oil. Now top it with lemon slices and sea salt.

6.Bake bread until golden brown, about 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Let cool slightly before slicing.

And then bask in the new found knowledge that you can eat,I mean, bake  foccaccia without a problem.

Making bread

In my journey of learning to bake-a rather short one so far I began with Bread.Growing up in a strictly vegetarian household-one that does not allow the using of eggs,Bread was one of the things that I could make without a problem…at least on paper.

After making  the basic loaf ( one that I hope to put up soon)a few times, I found a recipe  for an Indian favourite-The Pav. Available at any roadside stall with a delicious array of choices-samosa pav,vada pav,misal pav,pav bhaji etc.The Pav forms a basic of the street food many of us thrive on.I decided to put up this recipe first though because I’ve kind of grown irritated with  in my many attempts to get the loaf  just right.I’ll try again tomorrow.

The pav recipe I followed was simple and gave me exactly what I wanted.Soft,delicious pav.

Unfortunately the shape ended up a little more like a bun than Pav.But it’s alright.Slather it with butter when they’re hot out of the oven and it’s not really the shape you’re concerned with anymore.

Pav(similar to Scottish morning rolls)

Adapted from Piece of cake-A newspaper column.

Makes 12

Ingredients

450g all-purpose flour (maida)

2 tsp salt

1tsp sugar

1 sachet of fast-action yeast(or you could use about 4 tsps dry active yeast like I did)

50g butter

150ml of water

150ml hot milk

A little extra cold milk for brushing

Method

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast.

Add the butter and use your fingertips to blend it into the flour mixture. Pour in the milk and whey/water mixture and mix to form a rough dough. Cover the bowl and leave for 10 minutes in a warm place (If it’s cold or if you’re just impatient to get started heat a cup of water in the microwave for 30 secs and then just keep the dough in there.). After 10 minutes, you will see that the dough has already started to seem more elastic—the yeast has done its work without any arm-numbing kneading.

Turn the dough on to a lightly floured board and knead gently for about 10 seconds until you have a smooth ball of dough. Put the dough into a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave for about 1 hour until it has doubled in size.

Take the dough out of the bowl and knock the air out, then cut into 12 pieces. Knead each piece into a smooth ball, then place in a lightly oiled tin or baking sheet.

I  made them almost double the normal size,you should get about 12 otherwise.

Cover again and leave until the pav have doubled in size—this will vary according to how warm your kitchen is. The pav would have stuck together as they expanded. Brush the tops of the pav with a little milk.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Bake the pav for about 15 minutes until the tops are brown. Let the pav cool slightly before tearing into them.

Pav doesn’t stay well so make sure you consume it either on the same day or the next.

Unfortunately the last picture didn’t come out too well,however I was rather happy with the Pav as a whole.