Bread in 5: Garden Focaccia

For the Focaccia:

Pull a melon-size (1 1/2- 2#) piece of dough from your stash. Shape into a pizza pan, let rest to room temperature, about 1 hour.

Make Ninja Claw hands 

and poke holes in the focaccia with the tips of your fingers.

Like so. Drizzle on Olive Oil and spread on Pesto.

Bake Focaccia about halfway, 10-15m, remove from oven and add toppings. 

Bake another 15m. 

Optionally, but highly suggested - turn on the broiler and (watch carefully!) toast the toppings for another 5-8m until you get a nice golden brown here and there, but not burnt (watch carefully!). This will add crisp to the edges of your toppings and a bit of toasty flavor. Yum!

Toppings:

Top with fresh ingredients from your garden (or your friend's garden, shh!). 

Here, I used pesto, blanched fresh green beans, shaved potato, cream cheese and pickled red onion.

Pesto:

Okay Pesto is one of those things that's incredibly complicated and time consuming to make...  Is what I would say if it wasn't incredibly simple and quick!

And with a food processor, you can make delicious fresh pesto in seconds. 

Go with a ratio on this one, that way you can be creative with your ingredients:

The basic ratio is 1:2:2:8 

(1 part nuts, 2 parts oil, 2 parts grated cheese, 8 parts leaves or herbs)

For example:

3 or 4 Tablespoons nuts

1/4 c oil

1/4 c grated cheese

2 cups herbs

To this mixture, I'd add in 2-3 cloves of garlic, 1 Tablespoon lemon juice and two or three pinches of salt, to taste. 

Pulse up everything in your food processor. Taste. Add extra salt or lemon juice and taste again if needed. 

Traditional pesto includes: basil, olive oil, salt and pine nuts. 

But you can use any combination of greens and herbs, oils and nuts. I tend to use whatever I have on hand. 

I've made lovely pesto with unsual ingredients such as:

>Mint and Radish Greens, Olive Oil and Pistachios.

>Rosemary, Walnuts, Pecorino and Olive Oil.

>Dandelion Greens, Basil, Parmesean and toasted Pecans

I encourage you to try different things until you find a fun combination that you really like. 

Weird tip: If you find your pesto is too thick, but already has a lot of oil in it, add in one or two ice cubes and pulse with food processor.

If you make focaccia and stop with just olive oil and pesto toppings, you're good. 

But here are a few more topping suggestions:

Shaved Potato:

Slice on a Mandolin for best results. 

You want your slices to be super thin, almost transparent. Soak the slices in a bowl of cold water for about an hour. This will remove excess starch, which will help them bake up nice and crisp.

Note this is also how you make great fries.

Pickled Red Onion:

2 Parts Vinegar

1 Part Water

plus sugar and salt to taste

Heat ingredients in a pot or microwave safe bowl, just enough to dissolve the sugar. 

Optional add ins: Jalapenoes, peppercorns, lime slices

Fill up a glass jar with shaved red onions (cut them thinly on a mandoline). Top with vinegar mixture. Secure lid and refrigerate for 1 hour, up to 24 hours before eating. Will keep for about a month before it gets super onion-y tasting.

Tip: PICKLE ALL THE THINGS. This basic pickling ratio is good for basically any kind of pickle. A real Southern treat is pickled cucumber and pearl onions, often served as a side dish in Southern American cuisine.