As written, we had family in town for a while. I wanted to make a nice Italian dinner for their last night, so I did. Menu plans included home made focaccia. I never made that before, but have eaten enough of it to know I love it. Figuring it would be "no big deal" to make my own, I set to it. I found a recipe called "simple rosemary focaccia" read it through, decided it WAS simple. I am so delusional when it comes to cooking and baking sometimes that I surprise even myself with my fantasies.
I tried four times to get the yeast to fizz. Nothing. This is the same yeast I use for my french toast bread, I knew the yeast was ok. Was the water too hot? With every new attempt, the water was more and more lukewarm. You didn't expect me to actually pull out the thermometer and check, did you? So, 4 failures (one of them epic as I had mixed all the ingredients together) were under my belt. I was not happy.
We had our nice Italian dinner without "simple rosemary focaccia." I dragged a frozen leftover loaf of bread out of my freezer, and made garlic bread. It was ok. It wasn't focaccia.
As of this morning, I was officially obsessed with focaccia. You know, I don't even LIKE rosemary. But, I scoured the internet, looking for another recipe. I then dragged out my own cookbooks, and began reviewing them. In between all this, I made bread for french toast day tomorrow. With the same yeast that failed me and my focaccia. It was now confirmed the yeast was NOT the culprit, instead it was the operator.
About 4 hours ago, I began my efforts on a different recipe. Still using rosemary (I wonder why I did that), I took the initial steps for my "I hope this isn't epic fail #5" focaccia and crossed my fingers as I sprinkled that same yeast over the lukewarm water. It fizzed. Good start.
Here I am a little over 4 hours into the experiment, and I've got a nice pan of steamy homemade rosemary (ick) focaccia. I made mine with sea salt, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, and black olives topping it. My whole house smells like an Italian restaurant. I'm pretty excited, for I have sampled the wares, and I am smiling.
If you read my blog, you know life around here revolves around food, and animals (obviously NOT as food). Can you blame me for being so excited about my first home made loaf of rosemary (ick) focaccia? Mr. Happy Vegan didn't seem as excited. I told him I was making him a nice Italian dinner tonight, to which he replied "fine. FINE? That's IT? After getting over that tidbit, and then working 4 hours on a single loaf of rosemary (ick) focaccia, I presented it to him for the expected accolades. His reply? "Artichokes? You put artichokes on there? I hate artichokes!" Now, I know he hates artichokes. I meant to only put them on half of it, but they flew out of my hand too fast for my brain to process more than an "oops" about that. So, what I've got for a day's worth of meal planning, along with a few hours of bread making is a "fine" and "I hate artichokes." So, instead of that nice Italian dinner, I plan on having my focaccia with a supersized glass of wine. Its not worth the effort for that nice Italian dinner tonight, its just not.
Mr. Happy Vegan can scrape off the artichokes (there's not many on there), as I've indicated, and next time, he can make his own focaccia (as I've also indicated). Maybe he'd prefer cereal anyway. I've got my own problems since I've got a lot of rosemary to scrape off too.
Another day in the life of this happy vegan.
I tried four times to get the yeast to fizz. Nothing. This is the same yeast I use for my french toast bread, I knew the yeast was ok. Was the water too hot? With every new attempt, the water was more and more lukewarm. You didn't expect me to actually pull out the thermometer and check, did you? So, 4 failures (one of them epic as I had mixed all the ingredients together) were under my belt. I was not happy.
We had our nice Italian dinner without "simple rosemary focaccia." I dragged a frozen leftover loaf of bread out of my freezer, and made garlic bread. It was ok. It wasn't focaccia.
As of this morning, I was officially obsessed with focaccia. You know, I don't even LIKE rosemary. But, I scoured the internet, looking for another recipe. I then dragged out my own cookbooks, and began reviewing them. In between all this, I made bread for french toast day tomorrow. With the same yeast that failed me and my focaccia. It was now confirmed the yeast was NOT the culprit, instead it was the operator.
About 4 hours ago, I began my efforts on a different recipe. Still using rosemary (I wonder why I did that), I took the initial steps for my "I hope this isn't epic fail #5" focaccia and crossed my fingers as I sprinkled that same yeast over the lukewarm water. It fizzed. Good start.
Here I am a little over 4 hours into the experiment, and I've got a nice pan of steamy homemade rosemary (ick) focaccia. I made mine with sea salt, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, and black olives topping it. My whole house smells like an Italian restaurant. I'm pretty excited, for I have sampled the wares, and I am smiling.
If you read my blog, you know life around here revolves around food, and animals (obviously NOT as food). Can you blame me for being so excited about my first home made loaf of rosemary (ick) focaccia? Mr. Happy Vegan didn't seem as excited. I told him I was making him a nice Italian dinner tonight, to which he replied "fine. FINE? That's IT? After getting over that tidbit, and then working 4 hours on a single loaf of rosemary (ick) focaccia, I presented it to him for the expected accolades. His reply? "Artichokes? You put artichokes on there? I hate artichokes!" Now, I know he hates artichokes. I meant to only put them on half of it, but they flew out of my hand too fast for my brain to process more than an "oops" about that. So, what I've got for a day's worth of meal planning, along with a few hours of bread making is a "fine" and "I hate artichokes." So, instead of that nice Italian dinner, I plan on having my focaccia with a supersized glass of wine. Its not worth the effort for that nice Italian dinner tonight, its just not.
Mr. Happy Vegan can scrape off the artichokes (there's not many on there), as I've indicated, and next time, he can make his own focaccia (as I've also indicated). Maybe he'd prefer cereal anyway. I've got my own problems since I've got a lot of rosemary to scrape off too.
Another day in the life of this happy vegan.
Jen, I like Focaccia Bread, Rosemary and Artichokes. I would have been thrilled.
ReplyDelete