Rosemary Focaccia

It's hard to beat homemade bread. It tastes good and makes the house smell amazing. The thing about bread is it really isn't that difficult and it's incredibly cheap, it's just a little time consuming. Like it or not, time is something that I have a lot of right now. I am momentarily at a standstill in the job application process so I thought why not make homemade focaccia bread for our Friday night pasta dinner. I thought the bread turned out well, it could have been a little softer (I may have over kneaded the dough), but I loved the addition of the rosemary and it went great with the pasta.

Rosemary Focaccia
** from www.sweetpeaskitchen.com

Prep/Cook Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Serves: 8

1 1/4 c. boiling water
4 T. chopped fresh rosemary, divided
1 T. honey
1 T. garlic, minced
1 package dry yeast
3 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3 T. olive oil, divided
1 tsp salt
1 tsp water
1 egg yolk
1 tsp sea salt
4 garlic cloves, chopped

In a glass measuring cup, combine boiling water, 2 tsp rosemary, honey, and minced garlic; cool to 100-110 degrees. Pour mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle yeast over the mixture; let stand 5 minutes. Add flour, 2 T. oil, and 1 tsp salt to the mixer. Attach a dough hook to the stand mixer and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If you don't have a stand mixer or a dough hook, knead bread by hand. If dough is sticky, add 1 T. of flour at a time until smooth.

Transfer dough to a well oiled bowl and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Punch dough down. Spray a baking sheet with PAM and pat dough into a 9x12 rectangle on the prepared baking sheet. Cover and let rise 20 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 350. In a small bowl, combine 1 T. olive water, water, and egg yolk; set aside. Uncover dough. Make indentations in the top of the dough using the handle of a wooden spoon or just use your fingers. Brush egg mixture over dough. You don't need to use all of the egg and oil mixture, just enough to coat the top of the bread. Sprinkle bread with remaining rosemary, sea salt and chopped garlic.

Bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pan; cool on a wire rack.