Focaccia (foe-cah-chia) is a wonderful Greek-Italian, Middle Eastern bread, which is embellished like a pizza, but with different toppings.

To make an easy focaccia, use your bread machine to make pizza dough, which uses 3.5 to 4 cups of freshly-ground whole wheat flour. To your recipe add 1 level Tbls. dried granulated or powdered garlic.

The best focaccias are light and chewy. Thick ones are edible, but just don’t get the same "oo’s" and "ah’s"–at least not around our home.

Focaccias are best when good, fresh ingredients are used. Fresh herbs such as basil and thyme are wonderful. Dried herbs will work, but they just don’t have the same zing--they are dried--thus they are different in taste. Fresh herbs can be purchased in the produce section of most good grocers. A fresh Feta cheese is also important. We like the feta with dried tomatoes and basil. Another favorite is organic feta. A good quality olive oil is very important. The oil should be "green" in color. The best ones are in glass bottles which say organic, cold, first pressed, extra virgin olive oil. These cost a little more, but you can save them for focaccias, salads, etc.

Bread machine or a recipe on how to make bread the "old-fashioned" way.

2 solid bottom pizza pans

1 or 2 open bottom pizza pans for good browning on the bottom (some have holes or crisscrossed grating. If you don’t have these, you can still use the regular pans.

Olive oil for greasing the bottom of pans

Ingredients:

Fresh thyme and/or basil (about 1/8 cup cleaned and cut small - remove large stems - thyme does not need to be cut, but should not have large stems, pluck off the small leaves)

½ to 3/4 cup olive oil (enough for two focaccias)
salt to taste
crushed red pepper (optional)
1 medium onion, sliced thin in rings or half rings (red onions are very nice)
1.5 to 2 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
4-6 good-sized pieces garlic, crushed (not chopped)
Other options: thin slices of tomato, thin sliced mushrooms, etc

TOPPING: (Make this first to marinate)

1. Mix olive oil with salt, fresh herbs, salt, pepper, garlic and onion. This mixture should be thick. More olive oil may be added. Allow to set while preparing the dough.

1. Prepare your dough in the bread machine or by hand. If your machine does not have a pizza dough cycle, use the regular cycle, but only allow to rise once. After this, take the dough out.

2. Form the dough into two equal dough balls. Flatten each ball and begin working until reaching a circle about 8 inches in diameter. Oil two pizza pans and work dough out on these until it reaches the edges. Work the edges until they are high and well formed. Cover with a light cloth and allow to sit for about 20 minutes.

3. With oven at 425 degrees, bake both crusts for approximately 6-8 minutes or until no longer looking like raw dough on top. Do not brown.

4. Remove from oven and place each on an open-type pizza pan.

5. Place enough of the topping on each focaccia dough to your liking. We like ours full of topping. This is a matter of preference. To this add any other toppings and then the feta cheese.

6. Cook in oven for another 12-15 minutes or until nicely browned. Feta does not melt.

Enjoy this with a salad and some homemade ice cream for dessert.

Focaccia goes along with many main dishes or may be served as a snack or hors-d’oeuvre.

Ulu knives are great for cutting focaccia. If you don’t have one...consider getting one. They are Inuit hunting knives that are shaped like half moons with a handle in the middle. They are great for all sorts of kitchen work.