when it comes to simple and easy bread, focaccia is the only one you need to make.  you can slice it into strips and serve it with a salad, cut squares and stuff them for sandwiches or you can simply eat pieces of it.  there isn’t any intricate shaping or special pan required; just your finger tips will do.  the best part, the dough is so forgiving that mistakes are hard to see.  even better is the fact that you can add just about anything to the dough and still get a good result.

this weeks recipe from baking with julia is the focaccia featured on page 143 and is hosted by sharmini of wandering through.  be sure to visit her page to see the recipe or better yet, pick up a copy of baking with julia-it is worth every bit of space on the shelf.  to see what the other 100 or so bakers have come up with, visit the tuesdays with dorie page.

a few notes to share.  since there is just two of us in the house, i cut the recipe in half and made two small squares.  while the recipe called for a 24-36 hour rest in the fridge, my life could only accomodate about 16-18 hour period.  that is probably why i did not get all of the little bubbles on the surface.  maybe next time, or maybe not.  the bread was nice and light; the shorter resting did not seem to be a huge issue.  since i was pressed for time, i didn’t bother with the fresh herbs and just sprinkled a little sea salt on top of each loaf.

 my sundried tomatoes came packed in olive oil.  to add even more flavor to the bread, i used some of that oil in the bread too.  it gave it a nice tomato orange shade.

the window pane test for gluten development.  if you can stretch it out to a transparent window without tearing, it is ready.

be sure to check out the tuesdays with dorie page and bake along with us sometime!