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.