Whole Wheat Focaccia

Who’s ready to bake bread today?

I promise you – this is an easy one. No rolling, no three hour rising time, no shaping into a pretty loaf.

If you want to try baking with yeast, focaccia is the easiest place to start.

Since it’s a flatter bread, you don’t have to wait as long for it to rise or take the time to get it into the perfect shape or try to make those professional looking slits in the top of the loaf. Maybe my knives aren’t sharp enough, but mine never turn out how they’re supposed to.

This focaccia is chewy and crusty and oily to the touch, thanks to a generous smear of olive oil and herbs before baking.

It’s also the perfect bread to have along side your meal, even on a weeknight. Quick and easy. Begging for you to add your favorite flavors.

What are you waiting for? Your family or friends or roommate will think you’re a culinary genius and love you forever if you bake them some fresh bread

Just don’t tell them how easy it was.

Whole Wheat Focaccia

Makes: 16 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 5 Tbsp olive oil, divided

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in any large bowl), mix the all purpose flour, sugar, salt, and yeast.
2. Mix in the warm water and 3 Tbsp olive oil until dough is moist.
3. Stir in 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and mix dough until it starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl.
4. Remove the dough and knead in the last 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour.
5. Form the dough into a ball, cover it and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and either grease your baking sheet or lay a sheet of parchment paper on your baking sheet.
7. Place dough on baking sheet/parchment paper and pat out with your hands, until the dough is about 1/2 inch thick.
8. Cover the dough with a towel or plastic wrap and place it in a warm place for about 30 minutes to let it rise.
9. Uncover dough and poke holes in it either with your index finger or the end of a spoon.
10. Brush on the remaining olive oil and sprinkle on your herbs of choice (I used an Italian seasoning blend with this batch).
11. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Tagged as: bread, quick focaccia, recipe, whole wheat focaccia bread