I'm not sure what was more rushed: shaping, topping, baking this bread or taking this picture! I think it must be the latter because my family was perched to begin dinner when I yelled 'Wait! Wait! I gotta take a picture!'
Not necessarily the best way to start eating dinner that you have about -oh I don't know, 5 minutes? to eat before dashing off to soccer practice. And PTA meetings. And back home again for homework. By the way, do you have your 1st grade spelling words down? Test today! I do! Here they are:
chip, chin, inch, such, catch, match, wish, shop, saw and were. I recited those from memory because that's how many times I've looked at that list of words.
Anyways, back to the bread. It's not quite pizza. It's not quite foccaccia. But it's highly portable. And tasty. Versatile, too, if you are interested in swapping out rosemary for another herb.
Here's the recipe:
2 cups warm water
1 3/4 teaspoons yeast
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
4-5 cups of bread flour (this one will depend on the weather/temperature. I needed slightly more than 5 cups when I made it yesterday)
4 garlic cloves sliced thin
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped OR your choice of fresh herb chopped small
Sea salt & Fresh ground pepper (I forgot these two things because I was in such a hurry! I can say with authority that they can be omitted and won't be missed)
Extra virgin olive oil.
In a bowl, combine water, yeast, olive oil sugar and salt. Add in the flour one cup at a time and mix until smooth. Let rest 15-20 minutes in the bowl. Remove from bowl and knead for about 5 minutes or so or until smooth. The dough will be fairly soft; don't worry if it's sticking to you just a wee bit.
Place dough in oiled bowl, cover with oiled saran wrap and place in the fridge until it's time to bake. You can and should leave it in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours (or even overnight) for maximum taste but it's not necessary. It will taste good even if you take it out after an hour. Anyways.
Remove bowl from fridge and let come to room temperature. It will take about 90 minutes and the dough will also noticeably rise. Preheat oven to 500. Prepare your baking stone if you are using one. Remove dough from bowl, being careful NOT to degas the dough (and never punch dough down! That's just really, really mean) and place on lightly floured counter. Divide into four pieces.
Shape each piece into a 8 inch rough circle. Be kind and don't overwork the dough. Think rustic. If not using a baking stone and just using an ordinary cookie sheet/pan, place dough onto lightly oiled pans. Sprinkle with garlic and rosemary and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake approximately 10 minutes until golden brown--or just starting to turn golden brown like mine because you are running out of time and will end up consuming most of it as you walk laps around the track watching your son/brother at soccer practice!
