My Big Focaccia Adventure

What do you do with a box of pancake mix?Turn it into a centuries old recipe. That's exactly what I did with my box of Trader Joe's Baking Mix.Pancakes aren't really our thing so I looked on the box , poring over the different recipes. Most called for flour  which I didn't want. One stood out - the focaccia .it looked easy enough and didn't have too many ingredients. What the hey - I decided to give it a shot.

First thing  - get a big bowl.I use the one, my Mom's  - the once I use to mix my frostings.

This was the perfect bowl to mix all of the below

Trader Joe's focaccia recipe calls for two cups of the mix, teaspoons of garlic powder and freshly cut rosemary along with yeast and olive oil. It does ask for basil which I omitted.Fresh basil can have a medicinal taste which can permeate bread.

This is the chopped rosemary

mixed with the garlic powder.

Added to  them is the mix and the yeast.

The wet ingredients are 3/4 cup of warm water and three tablespoons of good olive oil.

Using a wooden spoon, beat one hundred strokes.

The dough is really sticky and gooey.. 

Now it's time to rub olive oil in a cake pan which was too small.

Using the wooden spoon, spoon the dough into a nine inch (I used an eight and a half ) sized one and wrap in plastic wrap. The dough has to rise for half an hour in a warm place.  I used my range..

Except there was a slight problem. The dough threatened to rise over the edges. Quick change to a deep dish pie pan

Before baking I sprinkled more rosemary sprigs on top of the focaccia.

It was then baked for twenty minutes in a 425 degree F oven.

The beautiful finished product.

How was the texture and taste? The tetxure was very crumbly but the flavor was rich and redolent with rosemary.

I paired a slice with salami for a tasty and easy Saturday night dinner

Would I make it again? Maybe - but I'd cut down on the oil. and possibly add sliced olives.

It was a fun experiment , especially since I 've always wanted to make this classic Italian bread.Try it. It's a gateway recipe for more complex loaves.