I don’t think that anyone would argue with the fact that home made fresh bread is THE best 🙂 I love it so much, and if you add a thin layer of butter on top of a warm fresh bread – I’m in heaven!

A lot of people actually refrain from making their own bread because they believe it’s a bit more complicated than a simple cake.Well…it’s not that complicated. In fact, the beauty in making your own bread is that you know what’s in it and you can even do something else while you make the bread since you have to wait for the dough to grow anyway 🙂

So I decided to make Focaccia Bread which is an Italian type of bread. It is different than the other types of bread we know because it’s almost flat and it’s usually smaller in size.

The one I made was with Thyme and Coarse Salt (Kosher Salt) and it came out PERFECT! Yearning for a thin layer of butter to go on top of it 🙂

Ingredients (2 medium loafs):

**Preheat oven to maximum heat temperature – I did it at 245C (470F)**

500 grams (1/2 kilo) all purpose flour

1½ cups water (320 ml)

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp white sugar

2 tsp dry yeast

**Dry Thyme leaves and coarse salt to go on top**

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Knead until they are all incorporated into soft dough. If it is too dry, add a bit of water, if it is too wet and sticky, add some flour.

2. Let the dough rest in the bowl. Put some olive oil on your hands and “pet” the dough all around until it is “wrapped” with olive oil. This way it will not get dry or stick to the bottom of the bowl. Leave it in a covered bowl in a warm place (I place it in the turned off oven after I per-heat it to the minimum heat temperature and turn it off) until it is double in size. This usually takes about 40 minutes.

3. After about 40 minutes take the dough and knead it gently until you take the air out of it. You will actually hear air coming out of it. After the air is out, place it back in the bowl and cover. Let it rise again. Give it another 30 minutes or so.

4. Take the dough out and form 2 balls. Place the balls on a baking pan (covered with parchment paper) and let them stand for an additional 20 minutes. The dough will rise again 🙂

5. Stretch each ball until it is in the shape of a big hot dog bun 🙂 you can basically shape it however you want to but this is the traditional way 🙂

6. Brush each of the two loafs with just a little bit of olive oil and gently sprinkle with the Thyme and Coarse Salt on top.

7. Place in the per-heated oven for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

I know…this may seem like a lot of work, but really, take a look at the recipe again…most of it is just waiting until the dough rises 🙂 which means you still have lots of time to do other things in between, You gotta like it – time efficient and tasty at the same time!