Let 'Em Eat Focaccia!

Greetings, all! I had a request...a recipe for what turned out to be a delicious flat bread that I made for some friends of mine for dinner last weekend. Debbie and Will, and their children Nina and Maggie, as well as Vicki and Dave, and their daughter Abriana all seemed to take to the bread with gusto. It is a gluten free version of a flat bread (also called Focaccia) that is great to serve with any hearty meat dish or even with just a salad or soup.  Toppings on the flatbreads can be pretty much to taste.  I used fresh rosemary from my garden, and sprinkled some sea salt on top.  This recipe makes one 8 or 9 inch bread, but I doubled the recipe for my dinner, and I'm glad I did...even the kids wanted more!  In doubling the recipe, I actually just made the recipe twice rather than actually doubling ingredients.  I wasn't too sure how well this would work as is, let alone doubled.  Maybe next time I'll just double the ingredients.

Rosemary Focaccia

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour mix*  (see below)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon sugar
1 packet dry yeast
1 teaspoon olive oil
3/4 cup warm water  (about 105-110 degrees F)
Olive oil
Fresh rosemary, as much as you like, rough chopped
Sea salt, coarse ground

First, butter (or spray) a 8 or 9 inch round cake pan.  Dust the pan with any gluten free flour...I used sweet rice.

Whisk together all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Pour the warm water and olive oil into the dry ingredients, and mix until just blended.  Then beat at high speed for about 2 minutes.

Pour the dough (it will be cake-batter like) into the prepared pan and spread it evenly.  Place it in a warm part of the kitchen/house and let rise until it's doubled in size...about 30-45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F while the bread is rising.

Drizzle olive oil over the dough and carefully spread it very gently with your fingers, covering the entire surface of the bread.  Then sprinkle the rosemary and sea salt on the oiled dough.  This is where you can top the bread with anything you like...any combination of herbs or caramelized onions and peppers, cheeses, or just about anything!

Bake the bread for about 20-25 minutes if you use an 8 inch pan, or 15-20 minutes for a 9 inch pan.   Remove the bread from the pan and allow the bread to cool on a baking rack for 15 minutes.  Then, slice like you're cutting pie, and serve.

*For these breads, I prefer a heartier flour blend than the usual Featherlight Rice Blend I use for much of my baking.  I use the following mixture:

1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup sorghum flour (I prefer the lighter colored sorghum)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup millet flour

This makes enough for 1 focaccia.  Just double or triple the flour recipe and keep in it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator to have ready for next time.  If you are like me, I'm way to lazy to do it every time...I'm much more likely to mix a big batch and store it for the next time.  I use that with my pizza crust flour ( a future post).

Well, this recipe can be made with regular wheat flour as well as the GF version.  Follow the same directions.  Just omit the xanthan gum.

 Let me know if you guys try it...I hope you will love it as much as I do.