Home made Focaccia and Buns From Scratch.

Good morning everybody hope you had a good night's sleep. I know I did because I tell you, this writing on the computer is literally a pain in the good ol' bum. I cut the recipe short.....
yesterday because first, I was tired and second it would have been too much for you young fellas out there to assimilate in on day. I am going to repeat the steps for the dough  to help you read and not have to refer back to the previous post.

To make the dough:

Ingredients:

• 1 kg all purpose flour.
• 620 ml warm water divided in two.
• 30 gr fresh yeast + 30 gr custor sugar dissolved in half of the warm water.
• 15 gr salt added to the flour.

Method:

• Use a stand-up mixer, any person who likes to cook will have some kind of stand-up mixer with a bowl and different paddles.
• Put your 1 kg flour in the bowl and add the salt to it. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
• Make a hole in the middle.
• Add the warm water with the yeast and sugar into the hole.
• Start mixing using the "hook" paddle of your mixer.
• When all the yeast/sugar water has been absorbed by the flour start adding slowly the other half of the still warm water.
• Continue to mix at speed 2 until the dough wraps itself around the hook leaving the walls of the bowl clean. At this point the dough is ready. 
• Maybe all the water has not been used up... just throw it away . It all depends on the brand of the flour, weather, how old is the flour.
• Take it off the hook and knead it by hand for about 5 minutes on a floured surface and make a ball.
• Return to the bowl and insert in your oven with the light on. No heat.
• Let prove for 1½ hours. It should double in volume.
• Once time is up, deflate, knead by hand for another 5 minutes and put back into the bowl.
• Return to oven and let prove for 45 minutes.
• Once time is up your dough should have doubled in size.
• Take out from the bowl, deflate punch it a couple of time!

At this point you can use the dough to make : Focaccia - buns - or just plain baguette.

Focaccia - pronounced foh-ka-tshia. 

This is thicker flat bread, with holes done by punching it with your fingers topped with origano, black or green olives, sliced sun dried tomatoes, thyme, rosemary, sage. It is just a savory flat bread with herbs to give it a taste to accompany BBQ's, casseroles, chicken, fish, pork, whatever.

Method:

• Use the special mold with holes in it as shown in picture, baked in the lowest level of the oven at high temperature for a short time.

• Use 600 - 800 gr of dough, wet your hands with oil, and spread it to the diameter of the mold. 
• Let prove till your oven is ready to use.
• Flatten it. Punch holes with your fingers.
• Add whatever spices or herbs you wish.
• Add some oil and bake at 200 - 220 degrees C 15 to 20 minutes till golden brown.
• Let cool.
• Slice like a pizza or in strips and enjoy.

Buns:

Take around 800 gr of the dough with olive oil wet hand and cut into golf balls like round spheres. Place them about 2½ cms apart in a round mold and put them in a no draft place in your kitchen closet or the microwave oven till your oven is ready to use. The dough must have proven by then.

• Brush with milk or egg the surface of the small balls.
• Sprinkle top with some cumin seeds or poppy seeds.

Bake for 20 minutes in a 200 - 220 degree C oven in the lowest level till the top is golden. By the time they are ready and cooked they will look like in the picture.

Enjoy!

Stelio