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August 29, 2010

Thyme and Garlic Focaccia



Last Friday we officially finished to pack the school where I work. The school is moving to a new, beautiful, big location (yay!) and we are all very excited about it. It's also a (physically) hard time because we, as teacher, are helping with the move. This means spending our days not only planning for the new school year, as usual, but also packing, moving, cleaning, painting etc. It's fun, though. It really is fun! We are a group of 10 young teachers so it is cool to spend time together without the kids around. 


The other nice part of this moving is that last Friday the cooks officially cleaned up the kitchen. There wasn't food left because we dealt with it last week but there were lots of herbs and the cooks gave me a bunch of fresh thyme! Oh I was sooo happy that I had to immediately think of something to make with it. I knew that with this focaccia I could not go wrong. And incidentally, this is the softest focaccia I have ever made.



Thyme and Garlic Focaccia 

Ingredients 
For the bread dough 

250 ml warm water 
500 gr bread flour 
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
2 tsp dry active yeast 
2 tsp sugar 
1 pinch salt 

For the top of the focaccia 

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
2 tsp garlic powder or 2 garlic cloves thinly sliced 
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme 



In a large bowl mix the flour, the sugar, the yeast and the salt and make a "fontana". (remember? like a mountain with a whole in the center...it looks more like a volcano...I don't know why it's called fountain!) 

In the center of the fountain pour the oil and the water and stir until you obtain a soft dough. 

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. 

Place the dough in a large bowl lightly covered with flour. Cover it and let it rise in a warm place, free from drafts for a couple of hours or until doubled in size. (Gently press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough) 



When the dough has risen grease a 9"x13" pan with some oil and press the dough in it with your fingertips so as to cover the whole pan and grease the dough thoroughly. Then, turn the dough and repeat these steps. Cover the dough and let it rise for another half hour. 

Preheat the oven to 475F degrees. 

Spread another tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder (or the thin slices of garlic cloves) and thyme. 

Bake for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the pan and let it cool on a cooling rack. 

Have a sweet day. 


20 comments:

  1. Looks scrumptious! I love a good focaccia!

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  2. Mmmm...I can almost taste it! I will be making it this week!

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  3. I love thyme so much. And luckily, I had the fortitude this year to plant a big pot of it in the yard. It can really transform a recipe, like this simple focaccia, into something really special. And these days, since people do not often make their own breads, any homemade bread makes a meal feel luxurious. Thanks for the great recipe! Gorgeous photos! =)

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  4. Guys, this recipe is super easy....just need to plan a couple of hours in advance for the dough.
    @jacobskitchen: thanks! I just saw your biscuits. they look amazing. I will try them for tomorrow's breakfast! How do you make them so tall and flaky?

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  5. Mmm...love the thyme and garlic. I can almost smell it baking! Have fun moving into your new classroom!

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  6. Mmm thyme and garlic. They must smell heavenly.
    Congrats on the new school! That is so exciting! I remember just wishing for enough textbooks when I substitute taught. Amazing what young teachers have to make do without. At least you've got a great support group!

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  7. Congrats on moving to a larger space for school and for the great use of the extra thyme. Your focaccia looks perfect. :-)

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  8. Looks lovely. Can almost smell the thyme and taste that garlic!

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  9. Thyme is one of my favorite herbs, combined with garlic and focaccia, I am a big fan of this recipe, thanks!

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  10. Ciao Sara adoro la focaccia, anche i miei bambini,complimenti per la ricetta e per il blog.
    Un abbraccio Gina

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  11. Quei piccoli tranci sono molto invitanti, complimenti!

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  12. Hey Sara, this looks like a great recipe. I am actually making a focaccia as we speak. Cant wait for it to come out of the oven. LOVE THIS! Great post.

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  13. Wow, this looks beautiful. I love the combination of garlic and thyme with it too (swoon). Yours is probably the prettiest I've seen.

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  14. I take back my last comment. You can be my blog friend because you made this. Garlic & Herb Focaccia is one of my favorite breads. Just dip in some olive oil and go....

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  15. Thank you guys for all these comments...somehow mine are not going through this post :( Hopefully this one will work.
    @BakingBarrister: I'm glad we can still be friends :) I promise I will try to like chocolate more (I do love white chocolate and nutella though...does that count?!)

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  16. I`ve never eaten focaccia with garlic so I need to try this :)

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  17. Paula, I have started recently to put garlic in the focaccia. I'm not a huge fan of garlic and still in bread now I love it! Give it a try!

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  18. This focaccia looks amazing. I love the texture of this bread! Hope your move went well and the new school is great...

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  19. Sounds delicious and looks so pretty too!

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