Salt & Rosemary Focaccia Bread

When you're frustrated but are not signed up to a kickboxing class, or punching your pillow gets tiring... bake bread. And don't use a bread maker, make it the old fashioned way. I find that the act of making bread, of kneading and punching the dough to be one of the most exhausting and, at the same time, relaxing activities I can do in the kitchen.

So I made rosemary focaccia bread. The best thing about this particular form of venting my frustrations is that I get to enjoy the hard earned spoils after I've gotten it all out! Some of you may have heard my "emotions get transferred into flavour" superstition, so I don't usually like baking when angry or upset, but I make an exception for bread.

I got this recipe from Joel, you may remember him from previous posts (ricotta ravioli, shaksuka, etc.). He's a brilliant cook, loves experimenting with new recipes and is a great friend to boot. He made this to go with our shaksuka a while back, so when I had a craving for shaksuka last weekend, I definitely needed to recreate it. If you find yourself waking up early on a weekend and want to make an awesome brunch for your family (or even to have yourself), try this out.



Salt and Rosemary Focaccia

• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 3/4 cup warm water
• 3 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 1/2 tbsp virgin olive oil
• A handful of fresh rosemary
• Sea salt flakes

1. Combine the active dry yeast and warm water in a small bowl and leave it for 10 minutes. Do not stir, allow the yeast to activate and froth until the very end
2. In a food processor, pulse the flours and salt, then add the activated yeast and 2 tbsp of olive oil and continue to pulse until a ball forms
3. Remove the dough and leave it to rise in a bowl coated in oil. Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel and leave it to rise for 2 hours
4. Drizzle olive oil on a 13" x 9" baking sheet, punch down the dough, place dough on the baking sheet and cover again with the tea towel to allow it to rest for 30 minutes (min) 
5. Preheat the oven to 230°C
6. Sprinkle about 2 tbsp of roughly chopped rosemary over the surface of the dough, then using your index finger (that finger better be clean and washed) push little belly buttons into the dough to cover the surface. Drizzle with olive oil, allow it to pool in some of the belly buttons (sorry, that's just what Joel calls them lol), and sprinkle the sea salt flakes over
7. Bake at 190°C for 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow it to cool a little before slicing it up and serving with Shaksuka. Perfect!

Domesticated Day In

On a typical day after a massive rave party, one would drag oneself out of bed around 2 in the afternoon, cursing the daylight and shouting for a nonexistent manservant to fetch one's cup of coffee and a handful of Advil. Last Saturday, however, after an amazing night at the Guetta gig (I never know what to call these things, concerts? Shows? Performances?) Alena and I woke up to watch Disney's Sleeping Beauty while Hodor (lol) tried his hand at the most amazing focaccia bread. 

A lot of Disney-esque (I'd say -esque as I doubt we actually managed any semblance of real singing) trilling and a properly risen dough later, Al and I started preparing the ingredients for our brunch. Despite the fact that it was well into the afternoon at that point, we had yet to change out of our sleepwear and thus still counted it as brunch.

You may recall me mentioning that on a recent trip to Singapore, we tried a Tunisian breakfast dish at a very popular breakfast joint called Wild Honey, and having seen various renditions of the recipe online over the past couple of weeks, we decided to give it a proper go. The recipe is easy enough to whip up in less than 20 minutes, and it's such a full meal that I guarantee it will keep you stuffed until dinner time (though it may have something to do with the fact that we had our "brunch" at 3 in the evening).

World's Most Attractive Siblings

With no further ado, let me share this recipe with you:

Shakshuka (North African skillet breakfast dish) 

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed/chopped finely
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 1 yellow pepper, sliced
• Salt
• Cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3/4 tsp paprika/cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1/2 cup diced sausage/chorizo (optional)
• 2 cans diced tomatoes (no added salt), drained of the water
• 1/3 cup white wine/water
• 4 large eggs
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
• Fresh basil/parsley

1. First of all, preheat the oven to 200C, and heat your cast iron skillet (or if you don't own one, just use a basic pan and switch to an oven safe casserole dish later) on a medium fire. Pour in the olive oil, and cook the onion until soft and aromatic.
2. Toss in the peppers and garlic and cook until softened, for about 5 minutes
3. Add the spices and sausages and cook for a bit more
4. Pour in the tomatoes and wine/water and lower the heat to a small flame. Allow the mixture to simmer for around 20 minutes (this is where you take your shower), until all that delicious flavour has soaked through
5. Take the skillet off the heat, crack the eggs over the top, sprinkling each egg with salt and pepper then crumble the feta over. Pop the skillet into the oven until the eggs are baked. I prefer my eggs NOT runny, so I leave mine in for around 8 minutes, however if you're looking for the runny egg yolk, leave it for no more than 7 minutes
6. Serve with your bread of choice (seriously, try that focaccia recipe) and a garnish of fresh torn basil leaves or parsley

Enjoy!
Lots of love, The Breakfast Club