Easy Focaccia Bread

In the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl), add the warm water and dissolve the honey into the water. Add the yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes until it starts to bubble.

Add in the salt and stir. Add in the olive oil and stir. Stir in the onion. Place the bowl in your stand mixer and, with the dough attachment and on low speed, start to add the flour.

You need to go up to about 5 cups and see where you are at. You want to dough to be sticky but you should be able to get it out of the bowl. If you go in and grab it and you get nothing but dough sticking to you and the bowl, add a little more flour. You will want to knead it for about 3 or so minutes in the mixer or about 5 minutes by hand.

Once the dough is ready, place in a greased bowl and cover lightly with a damp cloth. Let the dough rise until double in size. This took about 2 hours in my cold house even with using a warm oven to help.

Pour the dough out on a greased baking sheet or a silicone mat. Press the dough down to fill out the baking sheet.

Poke your finger into the dough to indent it all over.

For the topping, brush olive oil over the top of the dough. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Sprinkle with rosemary. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. You really can top this bread to your liking. Add slices of tomato, olives, cheddar cheese, you name it!

Preheat oven to 415ºF. Do this once you are done topping your bread. This gives your bread time to rest and rise just a little bit again before you place it into the oven.

Place the focaccia in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

(Recipe from “Michael’s Focaccia” at AllRecipes.com)