Christmas Focaccia
Celebrate the holiday season with this beautiful Christmas Focaccia! No kneading is required and it turns out to be so pretty and festive looking.
Servings: 1 bread
Equipment
- 9x13 inch pan (23x33cm)
- a mixing bowl and a medium-sized bowl
- reusable bowl cover (alternatively use plastic wrap or kitchen towel)
Ingredients
Focaccia
- 2 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoons cane sugar
- 1 cup lukewarm filtered water (240ml)
- 2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (350g)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, more to sprinkle on top
- 1 tablespoons Monini’s extra virgin olive oil
- 6 tablespoons Monini’s rosemary-flavored olive oil
Decoration
- fresh rosemary sprigs
- cherry tomatoes halved
Instructions
- Mix wet ingredients in a medium bowl, and let it sit for ten minutes for the yeast to bloom. While waiting, combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir ingredients together to form a shaggy dough.
- Grease the sides of the dough lightly with olive oil. Cover the bowl and let it rest at a warm non-drafty place for 1 hour until doubled in size. We like to put the bowl into the oven, with just the light on.
- Grease a 9x13-inch baking tray with rosemary-flavored olive oil. Transfer the risen dough to the prepared tray. Grease your hands with some olive oil and start shaping and stretching the dough into the pan. Then cover it to let it rest for another 30 minutes.
- After its second rise, drizzle with the remaining rosemary-flavored olive oil. Press your fingers into the dough to create the typical focaccia dimples. Your bread is now ready to be decorated (or baked if you want to skip the decoration).
- Arrange Rosemary in the shape of a Christmas tree: start by lining the Rosemary in a straight line. Push it down gently. This will be your tree stem. Then layer more Rosemary angled along the stem to resemble the rest of the tree. It will almost look like a triangle formation. Add halved cherry tomatoes to resemble the ornaments. Press them lightly into the dough also.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 355°F / 180°C for 30 to 40 minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt, if wished. Serve as is, or with more olive oil drizzled on top. More serving ideas are in the blog post above.