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Monday, October 15, 2012

No knead focaccia with caramelized onions

A lot has happened between my last food post and this one. For one, we have moved cities AGAIN. I am now a Mumbaikar doing my best to do justice to the umpteen kinds of street food served in the city. Between sampling every kind of chaat imaginable and setting up home in this city, I totally forgot to acknowledge the sixth anniversary of this blog which came and went  in June this year.
 Suma Rowjee's No Knead Focaccia is something that I wanted to bake when she posted it waaaay back in May of last year. Then, of course, I promptly forgot all about it until she re-posted it on facebook yesterday. Memory and want rekindled, I decided to bake it today. The basic recipe I have followed is hers, with changes made to suit our palate, as far as the add-on ingredients go.

What you need:
Maida/All purpose flour - 1.5 cups + 2 tbsp
Lukewarm water - 3/4 cup
Salt - 3/4 tsp
Active dry yeast - 2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1.5 tbsp
Juice of half a lemon
Onion - 1 large, chopped lengthwise into thin  strips
Seasoning - I used a mix of dried garlic, rosemary & parsley - 2 tsp (to be mixed with the dough)+ 1 tsp(for sprinkling on top)

Step 1 : Proof the yeast.
Dissolve sugar in water. Add the yeast to it. Mix well and let it stand covered for 10 minutes till it becomes frothy.
Step 2 : Caramelize onions. 
Take a teaspoon of olive oil in a pan. Stir in the onions along with a teaspoon of sugar. Saute on low heat till light brown. I did not let them turn dark brown in the pan as I felt that the onions would burn once they were in the oven.
Step 3 : The dough
Mix all the ingredients (including the caramelized onions) together with a wooden spoon. Once well mixed, stir it around 20 strokes with the spoon. Grease a round baking dish generously with oil (I used olive). Transfer the dough to the greased dish and spread it using your greased hand. Cover and let it stand for an hour. After an hour, I found that my dough had not risen much. So I let it stand for another 30 minutes. Again, not much of a rise, but the dough did look puffy and aerated. Dimple the surface of the dough with your fingers. Drizzle 2 tsp of olive oil and 1 tsp of seasoning on top. Preheat the oven to 200 degree centigrade. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Mine looked done at about 20 minutes, but I put it in for an additional four minutes to let the top brown further.
Cool on a wire rack.


Slice and enjoy!!!

My thoughts :
This really is an easy and fool proof recipe. If you are looking for a good recipe to start baking bread with, this is it.
The caramelized onions add a lovely flavour to the bread. However, feel free to substitute with any topping of your choice. I think I did the right thing by not letting the onions brown too much. By the time they were out of the oven, they were crisp and beautifully browned.


8 comments:

Vimitha Durai said...

Simple recipe. Gonna try soon... Yummy

Unknown said...

wow nice and yummy bread...
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sra said...

Before looking at the photo up close, your bread seems to have little, little peaks, love the effect created by the onions.

Congrats on your blog anniversary!

Vani said...

Wishing you many, many more blog anniversaries, Jay! I'm not a baker, like at all. I only bake with pre-made dough from stores. You say "easy, fool-proof".. hmm..this focaccia may make me try baking the real stuff after all! Let's see :)

Priya Suresh said...

Wow focaccia came out super prefect, incredible bake.

hotpotcooking said...

Jayashree hope u enjoy ur new place with new food. Focaccia sounds interesting with caramalized onions.

Jayashree said...

Vimitha, do let me know how it turns out.
Thx, Anu.
Sra, the effect of the onions is good not only visually, but also taste wise. I loved picking out and munching on those onions :-)
Vani, this really is a very easy recipe. Do try it out. Am sure you will be impressed with the result.
Thank you, Priya.
Anu, sure am enjoying the new place....thx.

Rajani said...

Lovely onion bread,would sure try my hand at this. Suma isa genius baker and you are one too - so I hope to live up!