Paul has been in class all week, meaning he leaves the house a little later in the morning (yay!) but he also gets home later in the afternoon (boo!). And well, this time of year, an hour later in the afternoon means it is dark when he gets home, dinner is usually later because I haven't been able to prep things due to a fussy boy, and any plans to go out and get some Christmas shopping done has o wait until the weekend. To put a cap on his week, Paul had to go into work early this morning (his normal time, an hour earlier than he's been leaving) to work on a project that no one else he works with can seem to take care of, and stay even later this afternoon because of his class in the middle of the day.
So, like I said earlier, the way to my man's heart is through his stomach, and his stomach has an affinity for bread. Knowing this, I decided to indulge him and make a dinner full of carbs. Typically we have pizza on Fridays anyway, so I knew that was going to be on the menu. Not knowing exactly when Paul is getting home, I wanted to have something waiting for him when he does get home, so focaccia with dipping oil sounded like a good idea because I could make it early and just heat it up when he is on his way home. Pizza is a staple in our house, especially since we found a fantastic homemade dough recipe. For dessert, I decided to treat us to chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. I found the recipe and halved it so that we don't have lots of extra hanging around the house.
As much as I planned this dinner around Paul's likes, I am very much excited for tonight's dinner because I too LOVE bread.
Focaccia Bread
(from allrecipes.com)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1. Combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Mix well. Heat water and vegetable oil until warm, and add to yeast mixture along with egg. Beat with an electric mixer at low speed until moistened. Bat for an additional 2 minutes. Stir in 1 3/4 cups flour while beating, until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
2. Knead in 3/4 cup flour on floured surface. Cover dough with a bowl, and let stand for 5 minutes. Place dough on a greased baking sheet. Roll out to 12 inch circle. Cover with greased plastic wrap and a cloth towel. Place in a warm place for 30 minutes.
3. Uncover dough, and poke holes in it with a spoon handle at 1 inch intervals. Drizzle olive oil on dough, and sprinkle with crushed rosemary.
4. Bake at 400 degrees F for 17 to 27 minutes, until just golden. Remove from baking sheet, and cool on rack.
**I didn't use the spoon handle to poke holes, just used my fingers, seemed to work pretty well. I also used an aerosol can with olive oil in it t oil the top of the bread. It had some oil transfer from the plastic wrap, so I didn't think it needed too much more oil. We didn't have any dried rosemary, so I used McCormick Italian Herb Grinder to season the top of the loaf.
Dipping Oil
(modified from food.com)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
Italian seasoning
minced garlic
These are the ingredients, I just kinda wung it. I used my dad's form of measurement for these types of dishes, the palm of my hand and a fork. There is probably about a tablespoon of Italian seasoning and less than a teaspoon of salt, with a couple turns of the pepper mill. Also, most likely almost a tablespoon of garlic (we like garlic). I mixed it all in a mason jar and let it sit on the counter all day, hoping that it would allow the flavors to marry.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
These came from Krissy's Creations, and they turned out great! I did half the recipe and make 6 jumbo cupcakes (mostly because we didn't have regular sized cupcake liners). This recipe is certainly a keeper!
No comments:
Post a Comment