taking a chance again.....

once upon a time,  a long, long time ago, i tried making bread.  from scratch. with yeast.

i failed miserably.  

it was hard, gummy and weighed a ton.....and i hated the kneading process because 

i never felt the spongy and soft dough that it was supposed to become.

since that time, i have never attempted to make a yeast bread again...

because i was too scared of failing miserably.

i don't know how i plucked up the courage to try again, but i did.

the sam's club near my house sells a rosemary and sea salt focaccia.  

it rocks my world.  

and makes my pants tighter....

i wanted to try and make my own. 

i used a recipe i found in one of my favorite cookbooks

apples for jam

i am a sucker for a good cookbook and tessa kiros is also a photographer. 

just about each recipe had a picture and she writes the story of the recipes of her childhood.  

it is a beautiful cookbook and i adore the title....what's not to love? 

anyway,

it was a very simple recipe with very simple instructions

and, now i have a kitchen aid mixer with a dough hook

something i didn't have the first go around....so it kneaded right in the mixer.

i couldn't believe how easy it was.  

ridiculously easy.

the dough rose just like it was supposed to. 

i just pushed my fingers into the dough like the recipe said 

to make little craters for all of the olive oil.

i sprinkled it with sea salt and fresh chopped rosemary from my garden. 

looks great huh?  i will admit that it was a little tough and the outside edges of the crust were really hard and crunchy. and it was a little dry for my taste.

since i am not any kind of a baker, i am not sure how to rectify that

 but i think if i take it out of the oven a few minutes earlier and maybe spray some water in the oven while it is baking that could improve it...

if you are a baker, can you give me some suggestions on how to make it more tender?

but it tasted delicious and i have finally conquered my fear of yeast.....

my next challenge will be cinnamon rolls....


(i don't know what the deal is with the font....sorry, i can't fix it....)