Breaking Bread -The Beginning – Spicy Focaccia

Whoever told you baking bread at home was easy kind of lied to you! There, we said it. Bread baking is not a simple task. If it were easy, every single home baker across the world would be baking their own wonderful, crispy crusted bread with soft and moist centers every single day.

After all, we live in the age of convenience. Buying a loaf of a freshly baked baguette, ciabatta, whole grain or a chocolate croissant at the grocery store or bakery is accessible to so many of us. But when you have a little extra time, there is no greater satisfaction than working with your own dough and enjoying the rewards of the hard work you reaped on your kitchen counter.

Breaking Bread Society was created to inspire you to bake more bread in your kitchen. We want you to bake along with us every month and break bread with your family and friends. We want to spark a bread baking passion across the nation and the world around. We know it’s not an easy task and we are here to help you along the way.

Each of our founders has a different background, complementing each other in various ways:

Lora of Cake Duchess, our Italian baker, has a way with traditional and classic Italian breads like no other. As a young girl, she got bit with the baking bug making her first pizzas and breads with her family at their pizzeria and later at their family restaurant. Married to an Italian executive chef, her baking repertoire has grown baking alongside her husband, mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law.  You can find Lora’s Cornmeal Peasant Boule featured on Fine Cooking’s Best of the Blogs. Lora is passionate about bread baking and is excited to bake and learn alongside her breaking bread bakers.

Shulie of Food Wanderings, with a couple decades of baking with yeast experience and expertise, is known for her recipe development, food writing and Mediterranean and Indian cooking classes. Born to Bombay born and raised Indian parents, she comes to us from Israel by way of a DC suburb. Her food and culture writings, recipes and food photography have been showcased in nationally and internationally acclaimed publications. You can find her step by step quince stuffed challah rolls published in The Washington Post.

Last but not least, me! Professionally trained baker from the Caribbean island of Dominican Republic and  studied at the world-renowned Culinary Institute of America. My baking is best known to be spontaneous and influenced by tropical flavors. Currently live with M on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, where I work as a pastry chef in a private golf club, as well as develop recipes for national food brands. You can find me writing for Marcus Samuelsson and Honest Cooking.

What unites us three bakers and all of you? The love of bread and a dear & growing friendship in the Breaking Bread Society! We love baking bread because people love eating real bread; delectable bread steaming hot right out of the oven. We love the discovery of a new recipe and learning new techniques about a bread recipe we may have not tried before. We are here to discover new flavors, new textures, and new ways to experience bread at the table with our friends and family, and most importantly, WITH YOU!

Whether you bake along with us every month or just once, we want to inspire you to love baking your own bread one loaf at a time. We encourage you to make the recipe your own. Check out Marnely and Shulie’s recipe ideas for inspiration. Be creative and add your own toppings or bake it as we did.  Read all about our Breaking Bread Society adventures and let’s unite in #breakingbread together. Our first posts are up! Visit Food Wanderings and her Kalamata Olives Focaccia and Cake Duchess’ Caramelized Onion & Cherry Tomato Focaccia! 

Breaking Bread -The Beginning – Spicy Focaccia

Recipe Adapted from _How to Bake_ by Nick Malgieri Copyright (c) Nick Malgieri 1995, All Rights Reserved

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Focaccia

• 1 ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¾ cup lukewarm water
• 3 tablespoons Chipotle Oil

Lemon Spread

• Makes 1/2 cup
• ¼ cup hummus
• 3 tablespoon softened cream cheese
• 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
• lemon zest

Instructions

Focaccia

• Combine all dry ingredients with dough whisk*.
• Add lukewarm water and oil, stir. Cover with towel and refrigerate overnight.
• When ready to bake, remove from fridge and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.
• Oil a small baking sheet and with your fingers, spread dough. If it resists, let rest for a few minutes and try again. Spread to 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
• Bake at 400F for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown.

*Dough Whisks are one of my favorite tools in the kitchen and I just recently discovered them. They're fantastic for mixing quick batters, doughs, and more!

For the Lemon Spread

• Mix all ingredients together and spread on bread. Sprinkle with lemon zest and serve as appetizer or passed canape.

Servings: 4 servings

Bake this month’s bread (FOCACCIA!) and post it on your blog with #BreakingBread in the title of the post by the 29th of May:

• Include a link back to the current #BreakingBread hostess’ blog (that’s Lora!)
• Link your post to the linky tool below. It must be a focaccia baked in May 2012 and must include in the recipe: Copyright (c) Nick Malgieri 1995, All Rights Reserved
• We would love to connect with you on Twitter; Tweet us at @Breaking_Bread  and tag it #BreakingBread