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Herbed Olive Spelt Foccacia

By Eliot, on January 6th, 2013

I used to be OCD about cooking contests.   In 2008, I entered 178 recipes.    In 2009, at the height of my mania, I entered 313.   In 2010, I entered 147.    That is about the time I started this blog.   In 2011, I entered only twenty-eight.

Now I am OCD about blogging.

I guess it is a mania trade-off.   Who knows, but I am still cooking.

(I have previously posted about my obsession with the best burger contest.    I was sure I had a winner with every recipe like Aromatic Thai Burgers and Brat Burgers with “Dunkelized” Onions  and “Poblanocado” Burgers with Jicama-Radish Salad and Lime-Chipotle Vinaigrette.   Notice I never made the cook-off!   :))

 

Every new year, I try to start out with a theme.

One year it was 39 Days of Soup.

I failed at that one.

Last year, it was the Great Clean-out (regarding the pantry).   It was somewhat successful.

So this year, I am going to go through my HUGE stockpile of contest winners, hopefuls, and failures.   (Don’t worry, I will revisit the failures and make them perfect before I post!)  Ha!

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Herbed Olives

To start this theme out, which I will call my OCD Revisited Recipes, I found a Parmesan-Rosemary Focaccia Bread recipe in my archives.    I wanted to use the Herbed Olives from my last post so I came up with the following:

Herbed Olive Spelt Focaccia

1 T. yeast
1 T. sugar
1 1/3 c. warm water
3 c. spelt flour
1 t. Kosher salt
1/2 t. course ground pepper
4 T. extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 T. fresh rosemary, chopped
¼ c. chopped Herbed Olives

In the bowl of a heavy stand mixer (equipped with a dough hook) dissolve yeast and sugar in water.  Mix in flour, salt, pepper, and 3 T. olive oil.   (I used some of the herbed olive oil from my olive mix.)

Mix dough until pliable.  Add rosemary and olives; knead with the dough hook for about 5 minutes.  Remove dough from mixing bowl and place in an oiled bowl.  Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise until doubled (about 30-45 minutes).

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After the first rising.

After dough has risen, punch it down and place dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking pad.  Press dough out to about ½ inch thick.  Prick dough with a fork.

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Ready for the second rising.

Let rise again until doubled (about 20 minutes.)  Brush with remaining 1 T. olive oil.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for 25 minutes.

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Nice and glossy from the oven.

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Yes, that is a bite.

As we have both eaten our weight in fudge, dipped pretzels, chocolate coated Oreos, cheese balls, brownies, and other holiday fare, I am serving this tonight with a simple green salad (from the hoop house).

This recipe was not a winner, but I think I have improved on it.   In fact, I am not sure which contest it was even entered in.     But, I do have my slick liner notes with the following description to wow the judges:

Great for a chicken-goat cheese pizza topping  or thin sliced sandwich with sliced roma tomatoes and basil.

Wow, this all actually sounds pretty good.   I wonder if there is a recipe contest currently open for breads?

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Postscript:    A few other things I have become competitive (and OCD) about are Secret Recipe Club and Cook the Books Club.    I had been so busy that I hadn’t dropped by CTB in forever!!!!!!   When I did earlier this week, I found out I had won the last round!  🙂

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