Focaccia With Herbs and Cheese

Mmmm, freshly baked bread

I decided to be brave and make my first yeast bread! And I can gladly say that it was a success. Okay, I used my bread maker to form the dough, but other than that it was my own work ;) I can really see myself getting hooked on bread-making. I've been avoiding a lot of savory things as I thought yeast and kneading would be too hard for me at this stage, but it turns out I was wrong. Working with dough is extremely satisfying, making the indentations after the first rise was the best part.

The recipe came from ‘The Bread Machine Book’ by Linda Doeser. I can't really comment on it since this is the first thing I've made from it, but it has very nice pictures and I'm eager to try more. I made some slight alterations to the recipe, substituting cheddar cheese for mozzarella and I sprinkled mixed herbs on along with the salt.

The sea salt and rosemary give a nice finishing touch

Recipe: Focaccia with mozzarella and rosemary

Ingredients:

210 ml hand-hot water

1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing

350g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

½ tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp easy-blend dried yeast

140g mozzarella cheese

Topping

2 tbsp olive oil

Fresh rosemary springs

Mixed herbs

Coarse sea salt

Method:

To make the dough: pour the water into the bread pan. Add the oil. Sprinkle over the flour to cover. Place the sugar and salt in 2 corners of the pan. Make and indentation in the flour without exposing the liquid and add the yeast.

Fit the bread pan in the bread maker. Set the machine on dough cycle.

When the cycle has finished remove bread pan. Lightly oil a round, shallow, 25-cm/ 10-inch cake tin and flour the work surface. Remove the dough from the pan and knock back. Sprinkle over the mozzarella and kneed gently to mix. Roll out into a 25 cm/ 10 inch round and place in tin. Cover with lightly oiled cling-film and leave to rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes.

Remove cling film. Make deep indentations all over the bread with your fingers. Cover with lightly oiled cling film and set aside to rise in a warm place for another 15 minutes.

Remove cling film. Drizzle the olive oil over the surface of the dough, then sprinkle with mixed herbs, rosemary springs, and sea salt. Bake in a preheated over, 200 degrees Celsius/ 400 F, for 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm.An obligitory cross-section

Overall I thought this was a great bread, very moist and moreish. The flavours are subtle, though I do prefer stronger ones, and it had a nice, light texture. Everyone seemed to like it and it made a good accompaniment to dinner.