Garlic Herb Focaccia
My family doesn't believe in the simplicity of just flour, salt, yeast, and water. Everything has to be a little spicy with specks of color and flavor that you can see. This bread turned out so nice and garlicky. It was soft and unctuous. I will wait right in front of the oven until it's done. This is one of the rare recipes that my sister is completely on board for. She doesn't dole out praise for food very often so when she finished two pans of focaccia in a week I knew this was a winner. This recipe is adapted from the Rosemary Focaccia Recipe from Gimme Some Oven.
Ingredients
1/2 cup garlic chili oil, divided
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp red chili flake
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp ground pepper
Bread Dough
- 3.5 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/3 cup warm water
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients for garlic chili oil and keep on a mild simmer for roughly 30 minutes and cool completely. Set aside.
- Combine flour, salt, sugar, yeast, garlic powder and 1/4 cup cooled garlic oil in a stand mixer on low speed with a dough hook attachment. Add oil and slowly stream in warm water. Mix on medium speed until combined and you get a soft smooth dough.
- Place dough ball in a greased bowl and cover tightly. Rest the dough for roughly 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Place proofed dough in heavily oiled pan and use your fingers to spread the dough to all of the corners. Dimple the dough with your fingers all the way down to the bottom of the pan like you are smashing your fingers down on a piano.
- Cover the pan with a towel and rest for an additional half hour. Brush lightly with oil and bake for 10 minutes. At the halfway mark spread the rest of the oil with all of the solids (garlic, chili, parsley, etc.). Bake another 10 minutes.