FOOD OF THE WEEK!

Roasted Tomato And Garlic Focaccia 

Cook’s Notes

You can either roast some whole roma tomatoes for this (instructions in recipe below) or use canned, whole tomatoes, drained of all juice.

While I am usually one to use fresh garlic, I’ve found that powdered garlic works best in breads like this, as the fresh garlic tends to burn on top of the bread and well, burnt garlic is not a pleasant flavour.

 Roasted Tomato and Garlic Focaccia

Prep time

4 hours

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

4 hours 30 mins

Delicious focaccia bread, flavoured and topped with garlic and herbs and roasted roma tomatoes. Freezes well.

Recipe type: Bread

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• For the focaccia dough:
• 1/2 tsp. dry active or instant yeast
• 3/4 cup warm tap water
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 4 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt (less if using fine salt)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• About 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 
  
• Herb oil:
• 1 1/2 tsp. fresh chopped basil leaves (or 3/4 tsp. dried)
• 1 1/2 tsp. fresh chopped parsley leaves (or 3/4 tsp. dried)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• Salt and pepper
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 
  
• 8 Roasted Roma Tomatoes (see below*) or 8 canned plum tomatoes, drained
• 2-3 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. *To Roast Roma Tomatoes: Preheat oven to 425 F. Toss roma tomatoes in a large roasting pan. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Cut a small slit in the top of each tomato. Roast in preheated oven for about 1 hour. Cool, then transfer to a bowl or bag and refrigerate or freeze for later.
2. To make the focaccia dough: In a large bowl of the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the yeast with the warm water and sugar. Allow to stand for 5 minutes. Add olive oil, salt, garlic powder and 2 cups of the flour. Mix to combine. Start adding additional flour, in small increments, until you have a smooth, moist dough.
3. Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Shape in to a ball, cover with a clean tea towel and let stand 20 minutes.
4. Prepare the Herb Oil: Combine all the Herb Oil ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.
5. Once focaccia dough has rested, grease a 7x11-inch pan (or 8 or 9-inch round cake pan) generously with olive oil. Roll out the dough in to the exact size of your pan (using a bit of flour if sticky), then transfer to your prepared pan, pressing it right out to the edges of the pan with your finger-tips. Spread herb oil evenly over-top and refrigerate dough, uncovered for 3 hours.
6. After 3 hours, remove focaccia from refrigerator. Drain any liquid from the tomatoes and hand-crush them over-top of your focaccia, keeping them quite chunky. Top with some grated parmesan cheese.
7. Preheat oven to 325 F. Cover focaccia loosely with greased plastic wrap and set pan on top of preheating oven to rise for 30-40 minutes, or until dough has risen slightly above the sides of the pan.
8. Bake in 325 F. oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cut into square, wedges or slices and enjoy as is or serve with an olive oil/balsamic dip. Freezes well.