Wow.  Do any flavors go together better than rosemary and olives?  If so, it’s gotta be pretty close, cause I’m pretty sure rosemary and olives were put on this earth to be eaten together.  Particularly in focaccia form.  I had never made focaccia before – so was definitely surprised at how fantastic this recipe came out.  It was seriously difficult to not eat this all in one day.  Somehow we managed to make it to daylight so I could snap a picture.

I highly recommend using a good quality pitted kalamata olive, as I think this is what made this bread so tasty.  There is a lot of rising and waiting – but it was worth it, as the texture was also absolutely perfect.  In the event you do not like olives – you can always just omit the rosemary and olives, and top this with whatever you like – cheese, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, or any topping that strikes your fancy.

Rosemary and Olive Focaccia

From epicurious.com

Ingredients:

• 2 cups warm water (105°F; to 115°F;)
• 2 teaspoons dry yeast
• 4 1/2 cups (about) all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 24 pitted black olives (such as Kalamata), sliced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried)

Sprinkle the yeast onto the warm water; stir and let proof for about 10 minutes.  Mix together the flour, salt and the yeast mixture until well combined – the dough may seem sticky.  Knead on a floured surface until the dough is smooth and stretchy.  Place the dough in an oiled bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 90 minutes until doubled.  Punch dough down, and knead back into a ball.  Cover, and let rise for an additional 45 minutes until doubled again.  Punch dough down again.  Prepare a cookie sheet by greasing lightly with 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Press the dough into a rectangle shape using your finger tips.  Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.  Drizzle the dough with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Sprinkle the olives evenly over the dough.  Let the dough rise for about 25 minutes, or until puffy.  Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.  Press dough down with fingertips, creating little indentations all over the dough.    Bake for 20 minutes, or until the dough is lightly browned.  Enjoy!

I’m a little more than half way between 30 and 31, which means I should be half way through my 30 While 30 list.  Not quite.  Documenting this recipe gives me a 25% completion rate.  While I haven’t gotten very far, I’ve enjoyed trying new things… who knew that homemade hummus and pita would be so easy and delicious?

Of course, there have been some misses that haven’t been documented on Domestic Pursuits.  I made fudge two days before Christmas, following a very precise recipe by Alton Brown.  Something went wrong and I ended up with a grainy mess that didn’t set properly.  Oh well.  I’ll get there some day… besides, who says fudge is just for the holidays?  I also fully intended to decorate some of my Christmas sugar cookies with royal icing – I even bought the supplies.  With visions of snowmen, decorated trees and sparkling stars dancing in my head, I made the same sugar cookies that I’ve made my whole life…and left out the SUGAR.  Yum.  That was a bit of a setback that cut into my already tight timeline.  Look for some hearts or Easter eggs in the coming months.  Finally, there was the herbed asiago foccaccia that didn’t rise, but it sure made for some tasty breadsticks.  Take two will be attempted soon.

Getting back to the recipe at hand: this pita came together quickly and easily with very little attended preparation.  For the longest time, I was intimidated by yeast.  I can’t articulate why, but it just seemed so complicated.   I’m so glad I overcame my issues, because homemade bread products, including this pita, have a much fresher and more pronounced flavor then their store-bought counterparts.  Paired with homemade hummus, this pita is a fabulous snack.

Pita Bread

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus more as needed
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp olive oil, plus more for greasing bowl
1 cup water, plus more as needed

1. Add flour, salt and yeast to the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process for 5 seconds.
2. Add the tablespoon of oil and water through the feed tube while the processor is running. Process for about 30 seconds, then turn off and remove the cover. At this point, the dough should be a well-defined ball that’s easy to handle and barely sticky. If it’s too dry, add more later 1 tablespoon at a time, processing for 5-10 seconds after each addition. If it’s too wet, add 1-2 tablespoons of flour, processing briefly after each addition.
3. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for about 1 minute.
4. Lightly oil a large bowl. Place the dough in the oiled bowl and cover, letting it rise until it has doubled in bulk (about 2 hours).
5. Deflate the dough ball and divide into 6-12 even pieces. Make sure you keep all pieces lightly floured and covered.
6. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Place a baking stone in the oven as it preheats. If you do not have a stone, use a cookie sheet.
7. On a lightly floured surface, flatten each piece of dough into a disk and roll out into a 6-8 inch circle. Keep each completed circle lightly floured (on both sides) and covered. Do not stack the disks.
8. When the oven is preheated, place a few pitas on the stone (I could fit 4 on my pizza stone). In 2-3 minutes the dough will puff up. Remove from the oven and repeat the process until all of the dough has been baked.

My husband and I just returned from a recent trip to the Waterworks restaurant in Philadelphia (which was fabulous, and I highly recommend.  Great views of the Schuylkill – both river and expressway) for our anniversary.  One of the most outstanding parts of the meal was the olive bread the restaurant served with dinner – now, I am normally not an olive-lover, but I gave it a try and it was fantastic!  When making bread this weekend to pair with some soup, I decided to go out on a limb and give baking my own olive bread a shot.  The rosemary balances very nicely with the olive flavor; it would be a great accompaniment to a special meal for company, but easy enough to make just for a night in with the family.  I based the recipe off of a bread recipe found in the Mark Bittman cookbook that we’re so fond of on Domestic Pursuits, making a few adjustments. 

Ingredients:

3 and 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp yeast

2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

1/4 cup diced olives

1 and 1/2 scant cups of water

1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions:

Mix the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl.  Add the rosemary and olives to the mixture.  Mix in the water and olive oil to form a dough.  If the dough is too dry (unlikely!) then add water 1 tablespoon at a time.  Let the dough rise in a warm place for 1-2 hrs, covered in a non-airtight container.  Knead the dough several times on a flour-dusted surface, folding so that the top is smooth.  Place the dough on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel and let rise for an additional hour.   In the meantime, place a pizza stone and a broiler pan in the oven.  About 20 minutes before the dough has finished rising, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Set aside a cup of warm water.   Just before baking, dust the dough with flour and slash the top of the dough with a very sharp knife.  Pour the water into the heated broiler pan, and quickly slide the dough onto the pizza peel.  Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the crust is browned and the bread sounds hollow when tapped.  Enjoy!

Since soup is always better when accompanied by bread, I made Irish Brown Soda Bread using a recipe from the Boston Globe. I was amazed at how easy it was to throw together this yeast-free bread. The resulting bread was moist and flavorful – perfect with a pat of butter or a slice of tart Dubliner cheese.

As written, the recipe produces two moderately-sized loaves of bread. We had enough bread for a Sunday family dinner and two nights of leftovers. If I was cooking for on me and my husband, I would probably halve the recipe and make a single loaf.

Irish Brown Soda Bread

Yields 2 loaves

2 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup canola oil
2 cups buttermilk
Extra whole-wheat flour (for sprinkling)
1. Set the oven at 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, combine the whole-wheat and all-purpose flours, baking soda, sugar, and salt. With a wooden spoon, mix the dry ingredients until they are blended.

3. In another bowl, combine the oil and buttermilk. Use the spoon to stir the liquids into the flour mixture until they comes together to form a dough.

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it gently several times until smooth. Divide the dough in half and shape each into a ball. Pinch the edges into the center and turn the balls over so the tops are smooth. Set them, smooth sides up, on the baking sheet, leaving at least 4 inches between them.

5. With a paring knife, mark a 3/4-inch-deep cross on the top of each round. Bake the breads for 25 to 30 minutes or until they are puffed and browned and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

6. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into thick slices for serving.