Foccacia anyone?

We have had a lot of kids over lately - cycle break (affectionately known as pyscho break around here). The elementary school starts mid July, then on for nine weeks and then off for three. Well, these past weeks have been the break which means extra kids over to play everyday... which also means lots of meals to make!
Yesterday afternoon I made a big foccacia which became the staple for dinner.



Some had ham sandwiches, some BLT and even a peanut butter and jelly was made.
I used my artisan bread recipe - so EASY!!!





If you haven't tried it yet, here is the recipe:

Recipe: Simple Crusty Bread
(from NY Times)
Published: November 21, 2007

Adapted from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François (Thomas Dunne Books, 2007)

Time: About 45 minutes plus about 3 hours’ resting and rising

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

Cornmeal.

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack.

Here is an article from the NY Times about this kind of bread...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/dining/21brea.html?ex=1353301200
en=981b61782a1df842&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

I love that the dough is in the fridge waiting for me... for bread, pizza, foccacia... amazing!

It really was a time saver last night!