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| Lucy with Ruth Reichl, Elise Hart Kipness, and Judy Blume |
LUCY BURDETTE: You might have seen in Facebook and in my newsletter (hey, please subscribe if you don't want to miss anything!) that Ruth Reichl was our Friends of the Key West library honored gala guest this year. John and I had the honor of hosting her, which brought up the fraught question of what to make for dinner!! I decided on my spaghetti Bolognese, a green salad, and homemade focaccia for something special. (Our friend Pat made a wonderful blueberry pie for dessert.)
This foccacia recipe comes from Alexandra's Kitchen, and I knew immediately that it would scratch an itch for me. When I saw how simple the process was, I could hardly not try it. You do have to remember to start the bread a day ahead, but it could be longer. You can adjust the toppings to suit your taste – in my case I wanted to use the fresh rosemary from John’s deck garden, sea salt, and some new hot pepper flakes from burlap and barrel. You’ll see from the following instructions that I did have success, but I still recommend going to Alexandra’s website and reading through her more detailed suggestions.
Ingredients.
4 cups bread flour
2 to 3 teaspoons kosher salt.
2 teaspoons instant yeast such as SAF
2 cups, lukewarm water.
Butter for greasing the pan
For or more tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt.
Rosemary leaves.
Whisk together the flower salt and yeast. Stir in the water and mix until the liquid is absorbed.
After the dough has rested for 30 minutes, set up a small bowl of water next to the big bowl of dough. Dip your fingers in the water and pull around the edges of the dough. Cover the dough with a slick of olive oil. Place the bowl in the refrigerator, preferably with a hard cover. Leave it alone for 12 to 48 hours.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and pull the edges in using two forks.
Grease a 9 x 13 pan with butter. Pour about 2 tablespoons of good olive oil in the center. Place the deflated dough onto the olive oil and turn until all the sides are covered. Let this sit another 2 to 4 hours until it fills the pan.
Preheat the oven to 425. Coat your rosemary leaves with a little bit of olive oil. Sprinkle them on top of the dough, and then using oiled fingers make dimples. Add a little bit more oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper flakes.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden. Let the bread rest and cool for 10 minutes and then dig in!
We had a wonderful visit with Ruth and the library supporters adored her! I think her favorite meal in Key West was this fried conch with hot peppers, cole slaw, and onion rings, courtesy of DJ's Clam Shack:)
USA Today bestselling author Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join her mailing list right here.
Overnight focaccia and a dinner guest like Ruth Reichl? No pressure at all, Lucy. I’d have shown up early just to “help” and stayed late for seconds.
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