Got Rosemary? Make Rosemary Garlic Focaccia

I have more rosemary than you can shake a stick at, or at least a rosemary twig. So today I am making rosemary garlic focaccia. Why do I have so much rosemary, you ask? How do you make this rosemary garlic focaccia? Let me tell you.

The Story

My mother-in-law loves to garden and to cook. So for Mother’s Day, we gave her a little rosemary bush. It seemed the perfect gift to suit both her interests.

It turned out to be a gift that kept on giving. She planted it in her garden and ended up with more rosemary than she could use. She shared some of the bounty of her harvest with us, and I still have rosemary to use. So far, I’ve made rosemary chicken and rosemary roasted potatoes. Today I am making rosemary garlic focaccia.

I love focaccia, but I have never made it myself. My favorite is the garlic focaccia from South Union Bakery in Des Moines. It is hands-down the best bread in town! Unfortunately, their focaccia recipe is a well-kept secret. However, I found a recipe for focaccia that includes both garlic and rosemary for my first focaccia-making attempt.

About the Recipe

The recipe I am starting with is for Rosemary-Garlic Focaccia from Food.com, but I’m making a few variations of my own.

Since this is my first time making focaccia, I realize straying from the recipe is a risk. Paula Deen says you should always follow the recipe exactly the first time you make it. After that, she says, make it your own. As much as I love Paula, I’m throwing caution to the wind and disregarding her advice.

I’m changing the original recipe. Instead of putting the fresh garlic atop the bread, I’m mixing it inside the dough. While I’m at it, I’m mixing the rosemary inside the dough too. I didn’t stop there. I put more garlic flavor into the bread by adding a ½ teaspoon of garlic salt to the dough. Then before baking, I topped the bread with more garlic salt and more rosemary. What can I say? I really love garlic and rosemary.

The Cast of Characters

Garlic and rosemary, and more garlic and more rosemary, are the stars of this show.

The Play-by-Play

In a large measuring cup, mix together the yeast, sugar and warm water. The water should be 110 degrees.

Let the yeast mixture stand for 10 to 15 minutes or until frothy.

In another bowl, mix together the flour, salt, garlic salt and rosemary.

Then add the garlic to the flour and rosemary mixture.

Then put the mixture in your stand mixer and add the olive oil.

Add the yeast mixture to the flour and oil mixture.

Mix until the dough gathers together in the mixer.

Spray a large bowl with Pam. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with a towel.

Let the dough rise for one hour.

Punch the dough down, roll it in a ball, place on a baking sheet sprayed with Pam and cover with a towel.

After the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 375. Drizzle the bread with olive oil and sprinkle with remaining rosemary, salt and garlic salt.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden.

Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

The Footnotes

• About the rosemary: Crush the dried rosemary in between your fingers to release the flavor. It also makes it easier to eat when you crush it into smaller pieces. No one likes a big woody piece of rosemary stuck in their teeth.
• About the garlic: Instead of putting fresh garlic on top of the bread, put it inside the dough. If you still want extra garlic flavor on top the bread, use garlic salt instead of fresh garlic. That way it won’t burn the garlic.
• About the baking pan: Stoneware pans work best. You’ll get a crispier crust.

Additional Resources

The great thing about focaccia is it is so versatile. You can top it with almost any type of herbs, cheeses or veggies. Here are some other focaccia recipes I found if you want to give them a try:

With rosemary:

• Rosemary Focaccia from Epicurious – This one has some decent reviews, with 3 ½ out of 4 forks by more than 50 people. It also includes a great tip in comments about using a baking stone to get a crispier crust. I used my stoneware baking sheet to bake mine, and I did have a crispy crust.
• Rosemary Focaccia from MyRecipes – This one uses an egg yolk, which is unlike any of the other recipes I read. No one else uses egg. This one also uses honey.
• The Best Rosemary Focaccia from Food.com – Supposedly the “best” focaccia recipe from Food.com. I think the one I found is better, since it has rosemary and garlic.
• Focaccia Bread with Rosemary from Simply Recipes® – This version is rolled out flat in a baking pan, rather than the round style loaf that I made.

With garlic:

• Fontina and Red Pepper-Stuffed Garlic Focaccia from MyRecipes – Not only does this recipe use an entire head of garlic, it is stuffed with roasted red peppers and cheese hidden inside the bread!
• Focaccia Bread from Allrecipes – This one uses garlic powder instead of fresh garlic, but it got rave reviews. It has 4 ½ out of 5 stars from more than 600 people.

With other ingredients:

• Focaccia with Carmalized Onion, Tomato and Rosemary from the Cookin’ Canuck – With all the different toppings, this one looked more like a pizza than focaccia. It even has parmesan cheese!

The Recipe: Rosemary Garlic Focaccia Bread

Adapted from Rosemary-Garlic Focaccia on Food.com

Baking Timing: 35 to 40 minutes

Servings: 8 servings, depending on how big you slice your bread.

Ingredients:

For the bread dough:
1 envelope yeast
1 ½ teaspoon sugar
1 ¾ cups water, 110 degrees
4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic salt
1 ½ tablespoons dried rosemary, crushed
5 garlic cloves, finely minced
3 tablespoon olive oil

For the topping:
3 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the yeast, sugar and warm water, and let stand for 10 to 15 minutes or until frothy.
2. In a stand mixer bowl, mix together the flour, salt, garlic salt, rosemary and garlic.
3. To the stand mixer bowl, add the olive oil and yeast mixture. Mix together using the “stir” setting until combined.
4. Spray a large bowl with Pam. Place the dough into the bowl, cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until double in size.
5. Spray a baking sheet with Pam. Punch down the dough, roll it into a large ball and place it on the baking sheet. Cover with a towel and let rise for 30 more minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
7. After the dough has risen, drizzle with remaining olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining salt, garlic salt and rosemary.
8. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

What else can I make with rosemary?