Homemade Focaccia Recipe

For me one of the best breads to make sandwiches out of is a nice, light, tender, flat piece of focaccia. Focaccia is extremely easy to make. Here is my recipe.

3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
herb butter for brushing over the top(I use Italian seasoning mixed with melted butter and olive oil)

Mix all of the ingredients minus the flour until well combined. Add the flour and mix just until it forms a dough with no dry places. Allow the dough to rise for 4 hrs in a warm place. Punch it down and turn it out onto a greased sheet pan. With you finger tips flatten it out to about an inch thick. Allow it to rise 1 hr. With your finger tips make dimples in the surface of the dough. Brush it generously with herb butter, and bake at 375 until golden brown and delicious (about a 1/2 hr).

Naan Recipe

Indian food is great, and what Indian meal would be complete without naan- the premier flat bread of India. It is very simple to make so if you like it, you should try.

1 1/2 cups flour, plus more as needed
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp yogurt

Mix the 1st two ingredients together, and set aside. In a separate bowl mix the last six ingredients together. Pour this mixture into the flour mixture and mix to form a soft, but not sticky dough. Knead just until smooth and place in a greased bowl to let rise until doubled.

Once the dough has risen divide it into 1 1/2in diameter balls (or bigger if you want bigger naan). Heat a cast iron skillet until very hot. Roll the balls out to an 1/8 of an inch in thickness and then place them in to the pan (irregular shapes are fine). Working with one or two at a time cook them 1 1/2 min per side or until covered in bubbles and spotty brown. Serve warm.

Pita Bread Recipe

Me and my grandmother both love pitas. We'll stuff them with anything: meats; fish; cheese; vegetables; etc. One might think that they would be difficult to make, but this is not true. Remember my pizza dough recipe? Well you can use it to make good pita bread. Here's how. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees, and set a cast iron pan inside to get blazing hot. After the pizza dough has risen the first time form it into balls (the size of which will depend on how big you want your pitas). Roll the balls in flour and let them rest on the counter for 15 min. Next take the balls and roll them out quite thin, a 1/4 of an inch or preferably a little less. Then immediately throw the flatened dough into the hot pan and close the oven door. The oven and pan must be very hot for a big bubble to form. After a couple of minutes the pita will be puffed up like a balloon. When this happens it is ready to remove. Let it cool and enjoy!