One Hour Skillet Focaccia

Note Tracy's Parmesan-less bread in the bowl ;)

The same day I made the amazing bruschetta, I also made this bread - mostly because the name got me excited.  One hour skillet focaccia - usually bread takes much longer than an hour because it has to rise.  This bread shortens the amount of time by letting it rise in the oven that has been preheated to 220 degrees and then turned off.  You don't want to bake it yet, but letting it rise in such a warm place speeds up the process.

I was mostly just excited to use my new skillet, too.  I've never had a cast iron skillet before and I bought one in the beginning of the summer at the outlets in the White Mountains.  I'm such a dork.  Mark bought tons of clothes and shoes, and I bought a skillet.

Anyway, this really was a one-hour bread.  It rose up quickly and beautifully, and only bakes for 20 minutes, which was good because everyone was getting excited to try it.  The bread came out puffy and chewy, but it was a little bit dry if I'm to be honest.  The recipe calls for you to brush the bread with melted butter, Italian seasoning, and Parmesan both before and after baking.  I did it before but not after, and I wish I had just done both.  Sometimes extra melted butter is all it takes - and it was only 3 tablespoons total!  Regardless, much of the bread was eaten and it went perfect with the pasta dish I made.  One hour for fresh baked bread?  There's no reason not to make it the next time you have pasta on the stove!

Recipe:

one hour skillet focaccia
from Crunchy Creamy Sweet

Ingredients:
for the dough:
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt

for the Parmesan butter brush:
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Instructions:

1) Place water and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir until sugar dissolves.  Sprinkle yeast over the water and stir a few times.  Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2) Turn the mixer on low speed and add 1 cup of the flour and the salt.  Mix until combined.   Add oil and mix well.

3) Gradually add as much of the remaining flour as you can (it can be only 3/4 cup) and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

4) In the meantime, preheat the oven to 220 degrees and when it's ready, turn it off.  Keep the door closed.  Grease the skillet.  Place dough on a floured surface and fold the dough a few times until it's smooth and not sticky anymore.  Shape into a ball.

5) Roll dough out to the size of your skillet.  Place in skillet, and stretch dough up the sides. Cover with a kitchen towel and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

6) Take skillet out of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.  Make indentations in the dough with your fingers.

7) Mix melted butter, Parmesan and seasoning in a small bowl.  Brush dough with half the butter.  Bake skillet with dough for 20 minutes or until golden brown.   Brush with remaining butter.  Let cool until safe to touch and slice.  Serve.