Food is my jam. I love food. I have an appreciation for a variety of food but there are some that I favor more than others. One thing that I am not too big a fan of is bread. My family is a fan of bread but the love of it just hasn’t stuck with me. However, there is one type of bread that I am a fan of, and that is focaccia. I used to buy it from The French Baker when my sister worked there but now that she isn’t, I found myself craving for it so I looked up a recipe online from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
The recipe is simple enough and didn’t require that many ingredients so I decided it was something that I could do on my own. I’d pair it with another thing that I’ve been wanting to try: homemade liver pate – the recipe I found for this one was something I found on Mommypotamus.
This is what I did for the focaccia bread:
Mix the following with a stand mixer to prepare the dough:
1 cup of warm water
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons yeast
The instructions were to whisk with a mixer’s dough hook or paddle attachment. I didn’t have those so I used the standard attachments that our mixer had. There was also a specified temperature for the water but since I didn’t have a thermometer for it, I just boiled some water then let it simmer until it was cool enough to handle but still warm enough to mix.
After whisking, the dough should be covered and allowed to rest for five minutes. Later, add another cup of water, ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 cup of flour. The recipe said to beat it on low speed for 20 seconds and then add 3 ½ cups of flour, continuing to beat on low speed for 2 more minutes.
Honestly, the mixer I owned only had one speed so I used whatever I could work with. I didn’t follow the time frame instructed but just based it on what the dough looked like. I used another ½ cup of flour to the dough to stop it from being sticky so that I could knead it, adding a bit of flour as I go. Again, the recipe called for a specific number of minutes to knead, but my sister told me that as long as the dough was no longer sticking and was bouncy, I could let it rest/rise.
I greased a bowl with oil (I used olive oil) and placed the dough in it, letting it be coated with oil before I covered it with a plastic wrap. I was supposed to let it rise for 3 hours or until it was double in size – it was more of the latter for me. The dough initially filled half the bowl and so when the dough filled it up, I decided it was ready.
The recipe said that I was supposed to flatten the dough by punching it down (loved that part) and then flattening it onto an oiled baking pan (again, I used olive oil), letting it rest again. According to the website, it should rest in the refrigerator for 1 to 24 hours. The longer the better. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have that much refrigerator space and had people wanting to try the bread so I let it rest for only an hour.
After letting the dough rest, it should be taken out of the refrigerator, covered, and allowed to sit at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 450°F for 10-15 minutes. While waiting, whisk 4 tablespoons of olive oil, minced garlic cloves (2 cloves), and herbs together to be used as toppings for the bread. Dimple the dough surface and drizzle the toppings over the dough. I used my hands to spread it all over the bread and sprinkled it with salt and pepper. It was suggested to use chopped fresh herbs but since they weren’t available, I followed the instructions of using 2 tablespoons of dried herbs: a mix of thyme and rosemary. I would have added basil as the website indicated but it just wasn’t available at the time.
The dough was supposed to be baked for 20-23 minutes but I think I was done in 15 minutes because the bottom of the bread was already crispy by then. I cut it up and served it to my family – some with cream cheese on top and some with the bacon chicken liver pate that I am also sharing on this post. My mother liked the plain version though, so I'm glad it was also good on its own.
For the Bacon Chicken Liver Pate, I cooked 8 oz of bacon and let it crisp. Using some of the grease from the bacon, I sautéed 5 garlic cloves, later adding 1 lb of chicken livers, 2 ¼ tsp dried thyme, and 2 ¼ tsp dried rosemary. Once the livers were cooked, I set it aside to cool.
With the cooled livers, I added the bacon, ½ tsp salt, and 1/3 cup grease from the bacon and mixed it with a food processor until it became a paste. After that, I was ready to serve it with the focaccia bread!
I was happy with the pate, but for some reason, the pate that wasn’t used went bad after a few days. I don’t know if I what I did wrong with how I kept it but it weirdly froze in the refrigerator. By the time it thawed it just wasn’t good anymore.
Overall, however, I'm happy with how everything was once I was done. I could do better preserving food after the fact, but fresh from the kitchen, everything was great. Thank you Sally's Baking Addiction and Mommypotamus for the recipes!
For the Bacon Chicken Liver Pate, I cooked 8 oz of bacon and let it crisp. Using some of the grease from the bacon, I sautéed 5 garlic cloves, later adding 1 lb of chicken livers, 2 ¼ tsp dried thyme, and 2 ¼ tsp dried rosemary. Once the livers were cooked, I set it aside to cool.
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| Letting the livers cool... |
With the cooled livers, I added the bacon, ½ tsp salt, and 1/3 cup grease from the bacon and mixed it with a food processor until it became a paste. After that, I was ready to serve it with the focaccia bread!
I was happy with the pate, but for some reason, the pate that wasn’t used went bad after a few days. I don’t know if I what I did wrong with how I kept it but it weirdly froze in the refrigerator. By the time it thawed it just wasn’t good anymore.
Overall, however, I'm happy with how everything was once I was done. I could do better preserving food after the fact, but fresh from the kitchen, everything was great. Thank you Sally's Baking Addiction and Mommypotamus for the recipes!
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