Focaccia
I can’t decide if it is a cause of laziness, or if they just do it better, but my husband and I have started buying pizza dough at the Publix close to our apartment. I would have never bought it, but saw that my sister-in-law bought it the last time we visited her in Jacksonville and figured if it was good enough for one Neapolitan, it would be good enough for another. I’m ashamed to admit it, but after having discovered this great dough, I’ve given up on making my own. I never really did it very well and it was just so much work. Terrible, I know.
We’ve done a number of different pizzas with this dough, calzones too, I wanted to try to make a focaccia, like the ones that I ate when I lived in Matera. Of course nothing can compare to the focaccia in Matera, but this got me at least a little closer. Mmmmmmm, I don’t think that there is anything better than freshly baked focaccia in Basilicata, and though Italians tend to eat sweet pastries for breakfast in Italy, we would often have these for breakfast, which I loved. I never got into the sweets for breakfast, or after dinner for that matter.
I have a few different pizza dough recipes on this site, if you decide to make your own, if not, try your local grocer’s dough, or ask your local pizzeria if they will sell you some. They may look at you like your crazy, but it is worth asking!
Focaccia
- 1 lb of pizza dough
- 1/2 cup of cherry or grape tomatoes, cut into quarters (you could also you whole canned tomatoes, cut into quarters)
- 2 tbsp fresh thyme
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 425°F. Roll the dough out on a baking sheet or a pizza slide for a pizza stone, you don’t want it to be as thin as it would be for a pizza, but a little thicker. Press the quartered tomatoes into the dough, they may pop out while rising in the oven, so don’t be disappointed if they aren’t as pretty coming out as they were going in. Brush olive oil over the tomatoes and the dough. Sprinkle thyme. Bake for about 15 minutes, it is ready when it has puffed and is golden brown.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
One Year Ago: La Sicilia I, La Sicilia II, La Sicilia III, & Fusilli with Swordfish and Pistachios,
Italicious 