mouth-watering Rosemary Focaccia bread

Italy is a country beloved for it's food, obviously pasta and wine,  but one of the things I found to be most delightful is focaccia bread.  After returning home, I wanted to recreate that taste for my friends, but have very little experience making bread.  But the other night, after watching Samin Nosrat make focaccia bread in an episode of Salt Fat Acid Heat, I became obsessed with recreating that perfect bread that I found in my travels in the Ligurian region of Italy last year. .

I scoured the internet and eventually found the perfect spinoff recipe: it has that right amount of crunchy salt, chewy texture and the crisp edges (which requires an entire CUP of olive oil!)   My other requirements were that it doesn't require a standing mixer, nor a bread machine. . . .just mix it together with a wooden spoon until it gets stiff, then use your hands.  The only gadget you might want to consider is owning a pizza stone.  

But it does require patience.  Make the dough today, let it rise ALLL day, throw it in the fridge, and then put it in the oven two days from now. Allowing it to rise and ferment over a few days is the trick to making this so mouth-wateringly delicious.  (and belive it or not, it's unintentionally vegan!) So next time you're wondering what vegan food you can make to take to someones house for a potluck, you can wow them with this recipe!)

This recipe is from Handle the Heat blog, which I followed almost exactly:

• 2 cups lukewarm water

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast

• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 

• 5 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves, chopped and divided

• 5 1/4 cups (670 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading

• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus coarse sea salt for sprinkling

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil for dough + 1/2 cup reserved for rimmed baking sheet (I used Costco's Extra Virgin olive oil and it has the grassy goodness without the high pricetag)

For the brine:

• 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/3 cup lukewarm water

Directions

1. In a large bowl combine the water, yeast, and sugar. Add in 2 teaspoons ( I used more like 4!)  of the chopped rosemary, half the flour, and the salt, stirring to combine. Add 1/2 cup olive oil. Gradually add in the remaining flour until a shaggy mass forms. Only add in as much flour as you need to create a shaggy slightly sticky dough.

2. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let ferment at room temperature for about 8 to 10 hours, or until doubled in size. At this point you can refrigerate the dough for several days until ready to bake. This will also develop more flavor.

3. Coat a rimmed half sheet pan with the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil. Turn the dough onto the pan and begin pressing it out with your fingertips to fit the size of the pan. Coax and stretch the dough to fit the entire pan, or just about. If the dough springs back, cover and let it rest for 10 minutes before proceeding. Spread your fingers to make little dimples all the way through the dough. 

Make the brine:

1. Combine the warm water and salt together until the salt is dissolved. Pour all over the dough to make little pools of water in the dimples. Cover loosely with plastic and allow to rise again until the dough is puffy, about 45 minutes.