To bake or not to bake!

I always kept back from experimenting with pastry and doughs however when I tried the pizza dough I received quite positive feedback so I decided to give baking a chance! On Saturday we were invited over to a friends’ house for platters and wine, hence I rolled up my sleeves and prepared some focaccias to crunch whilst nibbling on cured meats, cheeses and mozzarella di bufala.

To prepare a soft bread dough you require:

• 25g fresh yeast (can be substituted with dry yeast)
• 500g flour (look for Farina di grano duro in supermarkets)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 200ml warm water

Dissolve the yeast in a little lukewarm water and set aside. Mix the flour with sugar, salt and then add the yeast. Start processing the dough by adding circa 200 ml of warm water until the dough is soft and smooth. Knead energetically for some time, around 5 minutes, and then place the dough in a large bowl and cover with a clean damp cloth. Leave it to rest for an hour until it has doubled in size. At this point you can use the dough as you like. For individual pizzas or focaccias you can divide it into 6 or 8 pieces and leave the dough to rest for another hour until it is soft and inflated.

I prepared 2 different recipes with the bread dough. Here they are:

Savoury muffins with tomatoes and mozzarella

• 12 cherry tomatoes
• 125gr mozzarella
• rosemary sprig
• oregano
• olive oil
• salt

Wash and cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters. Put in a bowl, season with salt and oregano. Cut the mozzarella into small cubes and leave it to drain in a colander. Take 300gr of bread dough, knead it and cut it into 12 small portions. Open each portion with the palms of your hands and place tomatoes and mozzarella in the center. Close the dough and place in the muffin tray, previously sprayed with some olive oil. When you prepare all the muffins, dress them with some olive oil and leave them to rest for another 20 minutes. Sprinkle some finely chopped rosemary and cook into a pre-heated oven of 200 degrees Celsius for around 20 minutes.

Focaccine with pancetta and almonds

• 80gr pancetta affumicata (or bacon)
• 100g unblanched almonds
• rosemary
• olive oil
• salt & pepper

Roughly chop 50gr of the almonds and leave the other 50gr whole and soaking into some lukewarm water. Finely chop the rosemary sprig and set aside. Take 350gr of bread dough and knead well. Open the dough and place the pancetta, chopped almonds, rosemary, pepper and some olive oil. Shape the dough into a large cylinder and make sure that all the ingredients are well blended into the dough. Cut into 8 equal parts and place onto an oiled baking dish. Put 3 whole almonds on top of each focaccia pressing them a bit down into the dough. Sprinkle with sea salt and with a dash of olive oil. Cook in a pre-heated oven of 200 degrees Celsius for 10–15 minutes.

[caption id=”attachment_403" align=”aligncenter” width=”300" caption=”Home made focaccias”]

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