Recipe: Garlic and Chives Focaccia Bread
MANILA, Philippines — Mama Sita’s marketing executive and weekend kitchen warrior Ces Nepomuceno-Gamad likes bread. She finds it amazing how a few simple ingredients, such as flour, water, salt and yeast, can turn out good bread when mixed together and kneaded into a dough.
She bakes breads and picks the easiest recipes to follow. This is one of her favorite breads to make and innovates only with the add-ons, choosing to add garlic and chives this time.
Garlic and Chives Focaccia
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 tsps. salt
2 tsps. yeast
1 cup water
1 cup oil (olive oil, or lauric oil)
For the seasonings:
1 head small garlic, crushed (you can slice the bottom part to make a flower like garlic accent)
1 stalk chives, chopped
A sprinkling of salt
Cracked black peppercorns (optional)
Procedure:
1. In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and yeast. Add water to combine into a wet, sticky dough using an oiled spoon or spatula. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let the dough rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. It will double in size.
2. After the first rise, slather dough with some oil, and fold the dough using a spatula. Transfer to an oiled baking dish (square or rectangular, about 9 inches wide), cover and refrigerate overnight or for 24 hours. It will become bubbly.
3. When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 200°C. Drizzle dough with some more oil and poke some bubbles onto the dough, spreading the dough evenly on the baking dish. Top with garlic, chives, peppercorns, salt, or whatever green herbs you have.
4. Combine remaining herbs and oil in a small dish to make an aromatic confit for dipping. Pop it in the oven together with the focaccia dough. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
5. Let bread cool down for about 10 minutes, remove from baking dish and slice. Serve with the garlic chives dipping oil. Enjoy with coffee.
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