Guest Post: Wholemeal Tomato and Herb Focaccia

AP Chem is taking over my life.

No, really. Until May 6th, AP Chem will be taking up the bulk of my time. And I hate it. Because that means I can’t bake or post as often 😦

Luckily, I do have the weekends. And even more luckily, I have a couple of really great guest posts coming up from my amazing fellow teen bloggers 🙂

Thanks so much to my friend Mia from The Little Blue Bicycle for sharing this Wholemeal Tomato and Herb Focaccia, which looks delicious! I can’t say I’ve ever made focaccia (I’m a sad excuse for an Italian), but that may change quite soon. Mia has the cutest blog and some beautiful recipes, so be sure to check them out!

Wholemeal Tomato and Herb Focaccia

Hi! I’m Mia from The Little Blue Bicycle 🙂 I’m a teenage blogger from Australia, and I realise just how hard it can get juggling school and blogging and (if there’s time) maybe a teeny tiny bit of a social life, all at once, so when Dru said she could do with some guest posts to help her through a busy spot, I was happy to help! Also, I’m on school holidays! Hurrah!

Now, enough about me, because who am I kidding: you’re not here for my life story, are you- you’re here for the food!

I absolutely adore focaccia; somehow the flavour, the texture and the slight oiliness combine to make it just that bit better than normal bread. I take my lunch to school 95% of the time (in Australia there’re no cafeterias, we eat outside and almost everyone brings their own food), but the other 5%, the day’s when I just couldn’t be bothered or forgot or whatever, I get a divine toasted focaccia with semi dried tomato and eggplant and all sorts of other yummies from the school canteen.

(Don’t get me wrong, our canteen is in no way gourmet; the prices are exhorbitant, the majority of the food arrives frozen, for a vegetarian [such as myself] there’re only 2 options for lunch- but these sandwiches make up for all that, they’re divine!) But something always bugs me about them, and specifically the bread- it’s super white and fluffy, which tastes okay, but isn’t really too healthy.

And so, although I’ve made focaccia before, I decided to try it again, making something a little bit more nutritious. This bread is delicious: still fluffy but a little bit more solid, and more satisfying. It is, however, still partially white, but it was a compromise worth making in order to maintain the quintessential focaccia texture, and it’s a lot more wholemeal than white.

Anyway, thanks for having me, and maybe (hopefully) I’ll be back again someday!

Mia

Wholemeal Tomato and Herb Focaccia (Makes enough for 6 sandwiches)

Ingredients

• 1 package ( ¼ ounce/2 ½ tsp) active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon each fresh oregano, thyme and rosemary, chopped roughly
• Dash pepper
• ½-1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cup wholemeal all purpose-flour + approximately 1 cup more for dusting
• 2 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp dried minced garlic

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1 tablespoon oil, salt, sugar, herbs, pepper and the wholemeal flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining white flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).
2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Shape into a 13-in. x 9-in. rectangle; place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. With fingertips, make several dimples over top of dough.
4. Brush dough with remaining oil; arrange tomatoes* over the top. Sprinkle with garlic. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack.

*It can be slightly soggy under the tomato slices, which was no problem as I used mine for toasted sandwiches, but if you intend to eat it untoasted then I’d recommend skipping the tomato altogether or at least patting it dry before placing it.

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