Posted on

Anyone can cook, but Thimble knows best

Legends & Lattes – Travis Baldtree

Summary: An orc from a legendary group of fighters completes one last score for a lucky charm to help her leave the mercenary lifestyle for a simple life where she owns and operates a coffee shop in a mid-size port town.

The rattkin made an urgent dipping motion. 

Viv shrugged. She dunked one end into her latte and took another bite. Her eyes went wide. She chewed, swallowed, and allowed herself a moment to appreciate this subtle elegant comingling of flavors. “Oh hells, Thimble. That old man was right. You are a genius.”

p. 149

From the tagline of “A novel of high fantasy … and low stakes,” this book had me. As someone who has now been involved with a role-playing group for nearly 10 years and who loves the game’s rare town days as much as she enjoys slaying her foes, the tagline and the idea spoke to me. I’m happy to say that the book didn’t disappoint; the tagline was accurate and delivered exactly as hoped. 

In some ways, there is not much more to the story than the summary I provided above and the previous paragraph—but where the book excels and where you would hope it would excels given its claim of “low stakes” is how much it focused on the small joys of a coffee shop (which I will admit is a rarer experience for me in this post[???]-COVID world), the scents of freshly ground beans and fresh baked bread, and immense pleasures of getting to know the local characters, and more importantly those who get you well enough to form a friendship, perhaps a new team but this one a little less focused on treasures and the slaying of supposed beasts. Baltree clearly knew what he was doing in focusing on character-building and slowing down the “action” to enjoy a quick sip, a small bit, a moment of conversation. 

The peak for me was the creation of thimblets, clearly a biscotti, but the moment where the food and drink come together and as the shop needs something new for its customers. But also, perhaps when everything is finally coming together for the characters and this new less dangerous but no less thrilling adventure in a fantasy world. Though the book doesn’t provide a recipe, enough of a description is given, and I have made biscotti before, that I figured I could approximate it well enough.

Thimblets

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 6 T. butter, melted, plus more for coating
  • 1 T. cardamom 
  • Zest from 1 orange
  • 2 t. juice from (same) 1 orange
  • 1 T. baking powder
  • 3 c. flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 c. walnuts
  • 1 c. currants

Directions

  • Step 1: Whisk together eggs and sugar, and then add butter, cardamom, and zests and juice from orange. 
  • Step 2: Mix in baking powder and salt, and then gradually stir in flour until well cohered into a dough. 
  • Step 3: Once dough is mixed, add in the walnuts and currants. 
  • Step 4: Form into two 2 in. logs, and bake on a coated baking sheet in an oven preheated to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes. 
  • Step 5: Let cool slightly, and then cut logs to about 1 inch on a bias. 
  • Step 6: Place crescents onto another (or cooled) baking sheet, recoated with butter, and bake for about 20 minutes, flipping halfway through. Let cool.
  • Step 7: Enjoy with a nice hot coffee, or perhaps a latte, and a good sword and sorcery book. 
Posted on

Foolish Morsels: Fruity Pebbles Bread

Inspired by my favorite food blogger Dennis Lee at Food is Stupid and his amazing no-knead Gatorade bread and resulting post, I was inspired to try my own ridiculous bread. 

I once spent a year making bread every week, and it was almost as good as my year of pie, so I’m not a terrible baker but it’s also been some time since I’ve made bread on any regular basis. Count me among those who did not get into nursing a sourdough starter during the (ongoing) pandemic. 

But when the idea of making bread using my favorite childhood cereal of Fruity Pebbles came to me, I couldn’t let it go. I was going to bake it, and I was going to blog about it, dammit*. 

Credit: https://www.linaortega.com/ from Giphy

Building off of another favorite (a lot of favorites today!) of Gourmet‘s sweet dough recipe and accompanying orange and mint bread, I tried to make this bread as Fruity Pebbles-infused as possible. This of course started with Fruity Pebbles in place of orange zest and in place of mint-infused milk, and then I replaced the Cointreau with Three Olives’ Loopy vodka. Sure, it’s more Froot Loops, but it’s the best I could do. Also, there’s nothing quite like “infusing” warm milk with cereal known for getting mushy in cold milk. 

Though I could have been better about shaping my loaves, I was as pleasantly surprised as Dennis was at his own creation at how well my stupid bread turned out. I’ve loved every slice I’ve had so far. I may be biased as a huge Fruity Pebbles fan, but even my sweetie has been enjoying it.

Either way, though, I’ll definitely be making and enjoying this bread again, and not just to enjoy the leftover Loopy vodka. 

Fruity Pebbles bread loaf

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients

  • 1 c. + 2 T. whole milk
  • 2 c. Fruity Pebbles, divided, plus more for topping
  • 1 lb. 2 oz. (~3 ¾ c.) bread flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 pkg. (2 ½ t.) active dry yeast
  • ½ stick (4 T.) butter, softened, plus more for greasing
  • 3 T. sugar
  • 2 t. salt 
  • 3 large eggs, divided
  • 4 T. Loopy vodka, divided

Directions

Bring the milk and 1 c. of Fruity Pebbles to a simmer. Let sit for 10 minutes or until the milk cools to 120º to 130ºF. 

Meanwhile, stir together the yeast and the flour. Rub in the butter. Add the sugar and salt and stir. When the milk mixture has cooled, add it and 2 eggs to the flour mixture. Fold in, rotating the bowl as you incorporate. The mixture will be stickier than a typical bread dough, and that’s OK. 

“Knead” the sticky dough without adding flour by stretching and folding the mixture until it is cohesive and less sticky, about 8 minutes. You’ll notice the mixture either doesn’t stick to the bowl or your hands as much when it’s getting close to well kneaded. 

Form the dough into a ball and set in a lightly floured bowl or on a flat surface. Cover with a towel (not terry cloth). Let rise for about 1 hour. 

After the first rise, press down on the mixture and form a flat surface. Top the dough with 1 c. Fruity Pebbles and then 3 T. of Loopy vodka. Fold the dough and then knead using the previous stretching and folding method until the alcohol and cereal are well incorporated. Again, form the dough into a ball and set in a lightly floured bowl or on a flat surface. Cover with a towel (not terry cloth). Let rise for about 1 hour. 

After the second rise, divide the dough in half and shape into 2 rounds. Place the loaves on a lightly buttered sheet pan. Mix together the last egg and the last 1 T. of Loopy vodka. Brush the mixture on top of the two loaves (reserve the remainder, chilled, for a second coating). Once the egg mixture has dried, cover with the (not terry cloth) towel or with coated Saran wrap. Let rise for about 1 ½ hours. 

When ready to bake, heat oven to 425º. Brush the loaves with another coating of egg mixture and top each loaf with a handful of Fruity Pebbles. Place the loaves in the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 400º. 

Bake the mixture for 20 to 30 minutes until the loaves are dark golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool, about 1 hour, and enjoy. Perhaps with some Loopy vodka if you’re feeling, well, loopy. 

[*For the five of you who care, I hit a wall about 11 months into the pandemic and had a really hectic and mostly rough 2021, so blogging about food was something I could let go to reduce my stress. Though we still live in tough times, I’m hoping to get back to food blogging again, albeit in a slightly different manner. I’m looking at retooling my site and making some changes in the coming months, but I make no promise as I hesitate to guess what’s in store for the future.]

Posted on

I’m on a roll

After my first week of making rolls, and absolutely loving them, I couldn’t resist making more when I came across a cinnamon roll-like recipe that included the delightful mixture of “orange cheesecake” and “breakfast.” 

Orange cheesecake breakfast rolls.

Times being what they are, cheesecake for breakfast sounded like a really good idea to me. 

Plus, I miss baking bread. 

Once again, this one is a bit time-consuming, even if much of it isn’t active time, so another one to make on a weekend day or over a couple of days. However, like the savory rolls from the start of this year, these were amazing and disappeared quite quickly from our fridge. 

Though the cheesecake filling and orange glaze do not use any cinnamon or other similar spices, the process is very much like a cinnamon roll: making the dough, letting it rise, making the filling, wrapping the filling in dough, cutting into rolls, letting it rise, baking, and then coating in a glaze, and then devouring. 

Rolls? Sweet.

Here’s what I did, slightly altering a Taste of Home recipe: 

Ingredients

For the dough: 

  • 4 ½ t. (2 packages) active dry yeast
  • ¾ c. warm water (about 110 to 115 degrees)
  • 1 ¾ c. warm milk (about 110 to 115 degrees)
  • ¾ c. sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 T. butter, melted, plus more for greasing
  • 1 ½ t. salt 
  • 7 to 8 c. all-purpose flour (I needed a little more, but YMMV)

For the filling:

  • 8 oz. (1 package) cream cheese, softened
  • ½ c. sugar
  • 2 T. orange juice concentrate, thawed
  • ½ t. vanilla extract

For the glaze: 

  • 2 c. confectioners’ sugar
  • 4 T. orange juice (from one orange)
  • 1 t. grated orange zest (from one orange)

Directions

For the dough, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, and 5 c. flour. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. 

Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top of the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour. 

In a small bowl, beat the filling ingredients until smooth.

To form rolls, punch dough down, and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Roll one half into an 18 x 7 rectangle. Spread half the filling to within ½ in. of the edges. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 slices and place cut side down in a greased 9 x 13 casserole dish. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. 

Cover and let the rolls rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. 

To make the glaze, combine the ingredients and stir until well mixed. Drizzle over warm rolls, and enjoy! 

Posted on

New year, new knowledge

One of my favorite things about doing this blog is regularly challenging myself to try something new. Sure, I like getting my favorites written down and sharing them, and of course, eating my creations, but that’s not all!

This week’s joy, after a whole year of making breads, was learning about tangzhong. It’s a technique to get softer bread and doesn’t take much time or effort. And, well, it works really well. It didn’t hurt that this week’s recipe — in my new equipment for the year, the ever-useful 9 x 13 in. casserole dish — was full of butter and sour cream, as well as chives: sour cream and chive dinner rolls from Bon Appetit. 

Sour cream and chive dinner roll ingredients.

Spoiler: they’re so good, they were not just eaten at dinner. They were anytime rolls, and they’re already nearly gone after making them a few days ago. 

I didn’t do much to alter the original recipe, but for once, I wish I would have read the comments in an article. At least before I ran into the exact same issue and could have saved myself some time, and a little bit of yeast and milk. The recipe says to use the same saucepan from the tangzhong steps to warm a little milk and add yeast until it dissolves; mine clumped. I, instead, ended up using a small bowl and microwaving the milk for a short bit until it was warm, then adding a pinch of sugar, and then the yeast. Worked like a charm on the second go.

Otherwise, while it was time-consuming, nothing was difficult and about all of it was expected for a yeast bread, so it was a nice way to kick off the new year. And stay away from the news for a few hours. 

Such yum, much tasty.

Here’s what I did: 

Ingredients 

  • ½ c. plus 2 T. whole milk
  • 5 ⅓ c. bread flour (667 g), divided, plus more for dusting
  • 1 ½ t. active dry yeast
  • 1 c. sour cream, room temperature
  • ¼ c. sugar, plus a pinch more for yeast
  • 2 ½ t. kosher salt
  • 3 large eggs, divided
  • 1 stick (8 T.) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
  • ½ c. finely chopped chives
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Make the tangzhong: whisk together ½ c. milk, ½ c. water, and ⅓ c. flour in a small saucepan until smooth. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a stiff paste forms (per the directions: it should resemble mashed potatoes), about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and scrape the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, which is fitted with a dough hook. 

Warm the remaining 2 T. milk until lukewarm. Add a pinch of sugar and the yeast, and whisk until dissolved. Let sit about 5 minutes until the mixture is foamy. 

Meanwhile, add the sour cream, salt, 2 eggs, 4 T. butter, and 5 c. bread flour to the tangzhong. Scrape in the yeast mixture, and mix the dough together on low speed until it’s shaggy. Increase the speed to medium and mix, scraping as necessary and adding any more flour by the tablespoon if needed, until the dough is smooth, about 8 minutes. 

Dust the dough with flour and shape into a smooth ball. Place the dough inside a large bowl and cover. Let sit at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. 

Meanwhile, coat a 9 x 13 in. casserole dish with 2 T. butter.

Punch down dough and turn it onto a lightly floured surface and stretch into a square. Roll out into a 12 in. square, dusting with more flour as needed. Sprinkle chives evenly on top of the dough. 

Starting at one end, loosely roll up dough, and flatten into a long rectangle using your hands. Roll out dough again, dusting with flour as needed, into about a 6 x 16 in. rectangle. Cut into 24 squarish pieces, in a 3 x 8 grid. 

Working 1 piece at a time, pinch the corners together to form a teardrop shape. Then, seam side down, roll the dough into a round ball. Place in prepared casserole dish and repeat with the remaining pieces of dough, making about a 4 x 6 grid. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes. 

Meanwhile, place a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 375 degrees. 

Whisk remaining egg in small bowl, uncover the dish and gently brush the tops of the rolls with egg, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

Bake rolls until tops are deep golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. 

Remove from oven and immediately brush tops with remaining 2 T. butter. Let cool about 5 minutes and then slide the entire grid of rolls onto a wire rack. Serve warm or let cool and enjoy!

Posted on

It’s my birthday and I’ll geek out if I want to

I recently finished a wonderful YA novel called “Wicked Fox” by Kat Cho. One of my favorite things about it, though, for this foodie at heart, is the descriptions of Seoul food. Thanks to the glossary at the back, I got an even deeper description of each food item and have been making them in the weeks since. 

I’m not too proud to admit that the kitchy date night dinner of corn dogs with fried potatoes caught my attention as much as the more traditional fare. Part of the appeal was figuring out exactly how it worked; then, once I knew, another part of the appeal was a whole new way to eat hot dogs surrounded by fried stuff. 

There were not many recipes available from my usual sources. Even the (amazing) site I found to make the other traditional South Korean recipes didn’t include this more modern, more urban item. Thankfully, there’s YouTube. 

“Corn” dog (and cheese) ingredients.

The wonderful Aaron and Claire came through with several recipes, including one that was what I suspected the author was going for based on some additional research.

Now, the first thing to know is that these are not actually made with cornmeal, and that’s important because when the recipe says to roll the fried dough in sugar, it is slightly less unusual than it seems to American tastes. Since the dough more closely resembles bread than the sweeter corn batter, the sugar mostly just makes it taste more like American ideas of corn batter; that said, as a person who’s OK with slightly less sweet things, I tried them both ways and was totally fine without adding sugar. 

I also found that I personally liked the way described in the video that skips the fried potatoes and instead uses a mix of panko and dried parsley as a coating. The crunch does it for me, but I also enjoyed the novelty of fried potatoes and “corn” dogs in the same dish. 

While I mostly followed the recipes, one concession I did make is that since I wanted to sneak this into my small skillet recipes and recommend Cho’s book (not just for its Korean food items), I didn’t make them on sticks but instead cut the hot dogs and cheese sticks (!!) in half so I could try more variations and have them fit. 

They’re adorable and delicious.

Here’s what I did, with the link to the direct Aaron and Claire YouTube video provided because I loved the descriptions: 

Ingredients

  • ~6 hot dogs, halved
  • ~4 mozzarella cheese sticks, halved (and preferably frozen for about 10 minutes before cooking)
  • ~1 to 1 ½ c. frozen potato cubes, if assortment preferred
  • ~1 ½ c. panko
  • 2 to 3 T. dried parsley
  • 1 ⅔ c. (400 g) bread flour
  • ½ c. (60 g) sugar, plus more for coating
  • 2 ½ t. (10 g) salt
  • 2 ¼ t. (8 g) active dried yeast
  • 1 ¼ c. (300 ml) warm water
  • Oil, for frying
  • Ketchup, for serving
  • Mustard, for serving

Directions

In a large bowl, mix together the bread flour, sugar, and salt. Stir to combine. In a small bowl, mix together the yeast and warm water, and let sit about 5 minutes, and then pour into the dry mixture until a sticky dough forms, adding more water if necessary. 

Let the dough rise in a cool, dry place for about 2 hours. 

After the 2 hours passes, mix together the panko and parsley on a plate. If using, place the frozen potatoes on a plate. If using (and recommended), place a little bit (~½ c. additional) of sugar on a small plate to coat the fried food.

Heat up oil in a 9 in. cast iron skillet (or whatever) until it reaches about 275 degrees. 

Use your hands (or corn dog sticks, if you have them) to wrap the hot dog pieces and cheese stick halves, individually, in the dough. This is where it really helps to have seen the video to get a good idea of how to wrap the dogs and cheese sticks, but I also feel like after you do it a couple times, there’s not too many ways to catch the dough to wrap it around the meat and cheese. 

Once dog/cheese is covered in dough, coat it in the panko or the potato or leave plain to your heart’s desire. Then, fry it for three to five minutes until nice and golden. Place on a paper towel to drain excess oil, and then coat in sugar before serving

Repeat with remaining items, and using the coatings as desired. 

Drizzle with ketchup and mustard before serving, or use for dipping, and enjoy! 

Posted on

Pizza bread!

OK, I think I’m officially on board with the bread-baking phenomenon. It just took me a little longer to get there than everyone else.

I’ve long liked the calming effects of kneading and the comforting aroma of bread rising, so I’m surprised I haven’t satisfied my soul sooner. Besides, as I have shown, I’ve long loved being a baker.

Even better, after making Serious Eats’ focaccia, I perused their other bread options and was delighted to find the double comfort of pizza and bread.

Pizza bread ingredients!

It sounded pretty easy, and because it called for a pound of pizza dough, and my measurements for my favorite dough don’t lead to exactly a pound, I just made a double batch and hoped there would be some leftover to have a homemade pizza later in the week. I was not disappointed.

With ingredients like garlic, dough, pepperoni, Parmesan, and red pepper flakes, it’s impossible for it to have turned out bad.

My only issue was pre-cooking the pepperoni with the garlic resulted in slightly crunchy pepperoni pieces in some cases after baking. It still didn’t taste bad, but I question if it’s totally necessary to pre-cook the meat, or maybe I’d just cook it for the barest minimum amount of time or on a lower setting to ensure the garlic gets cooked into the butter and crisps a little.

Still, we had no problem eating all 24 knots in just a few days.

Pizza bread!

Here’s what I did, mostly sticking to the recipe, only making my own dough:

Ingredients

  • 2 T. butter
  • 2 T. olive oil, plus more for drizzling
  • 4 oz. pepperoni, cut into ¼ in. squares
  • Red pepper flakes, to taste
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • ¼ c. chopped fresh parsley leaves
  • 2 T. chopped fresh chives
  • ¾ c. Parmesan cheese, grated, divided
  • Flour, for dusting
  • 1 lb. homemade or store-bought pizza dough (I used about ⅔ of a double recipe of my favorite dough recipe here and reserved the rest for a thin-crust homemade pizza)
  • Pizza/Pasta sauce, for serving

Directions

Heat butter and oil in a 9- to 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat until butter melts. Add pepperoni and cook until it starts to crisp, about 2 minutes (see note above about doing this for slightly less time). Add pepper flakes and garlic, and cook for about an additional 1 minute. Remove from heat and add the parsley and chives, and stir to combine. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in ½ c. of the Parmesan. Do not wipe out the skillet.

On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough in half. Take one piece and roll or stretch into a rectangle about 8 in. long by 4 in. wide. Use a bench scraper or sharp knife, and cut crosswise into 12 strips. Repeat with the other half, to yield 24 total strips.

Tie each strip into a knot and transfer to the bowl with the pepperoni, etc. mixture. Use your hands to toss and fold to coat the knots in the mixture. Place the knots in the skillet in a single layer, and drizzle with more olive oil.

Cover the skillet with plastic, and set aside until doubled, about 4 hours. Or, do as I did, and refrigerate for about 12 to 16 hours.

When ready to bake, heat the oven to 425 degrees, and place oven rack in the center. Remove the plastic wrap. Sprinkle on the remaining ¼ c. cheese. Place skillet in the oven and bake until golden brown and crisp, about 25 to 30 minutes. Brush on additional olive oil and enjoy with pizza sauce!

Posted on

Fat, fluffy focaccia

Since the pandemic began, apparently people have been getting into bread baking. Not only are there the news stories but I have the anecdotal evidence that my sweetie had trouble finding active dry yeast during one of his recent weekly grocery trips.

However, for once, I was ahead of the curve. I have been making bread on the regular for years. And since my sweetie did go to a second store for the yeast, I am back in business now after nearly using up my stash when I made pizza a couple weeks ago.

I do get why it’s picked up in popularity, as it’s often cheaper especially than some fancier breads, and it’s a good distraction for a few hours. Those brave souls who nourish sourdough starters — which I did for a while during my bread year and beyond but didn’t survive the move to Ames — are even giving themselves ongoing time commitments.

What I’m saying is, like Oprah, I love bread.

Rosemary and olive focaccia bread ingredients.

One of my favorites is focaccia. What’s not to love about a lot of olive oil, and for me, the addition of olives and/or rosemary. While I’ve made this many times before, I couldn’t recall ever making it in a small skillet.

Thankfully, the wonderful Serious Eats had a no-knead (even better!) recipe that was designed for a 10-inch skillet. I figured my 9-inch Le Creuset would work after reading the directions. It did, but barely. I ended up with a much poofier loaf than anticipated; however, another thing I did wrong among expert breadmakers is I neglected the preferred weight measurements and instead went with the also provided cup measurements. In the end, I needed more water than the recipe called for, which likely means I used too much flour and ended up with a bigger loaf than I would have otherwise.

I could beat myself up about it … but in the end, there’s just more bread to love.

Though I’m sure weighted measurements are preferred (and given) for all but my additions, this still-somewhat-lazy baker would probably worry mostly about the flour and the water measurements in weights.

Crispy, crunchy bread.

Here’s what I did, adding my own tweaks:

Ingredients

  • 500 g. bread flour or all-purpose flour (~3 ¼ c.)
  • 10 g. kosher salt (~2 ½ t.)
  • 4 g. active dry yeast (~1 rounded t.)
  • 400 g. room temperature water (1 ½ c. plus 3 T.)
  • 68 g. olive oil (~5 T.), divided
  • ~3 sprigs rosemary, divided
  • ½ c. pitted kalamata olives, chopped
  • Coarse sea salt

Directions 

Combine the flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl and whisk to blend. Add the water and stir with a wooden spoon until no dry flour remains, about 2 minutes (if you measured by cups, you may need to add additional water to combine). Add about 1 ½ T. (20 g.) olive oil and stir to incorporate, using hands if necessary to work into the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

Remove plastic wrap (but keep!), and add about 2 sprigs worth of rosemary leaves, chopped if desired and all the olives. Then, use a lightly greased bowl scraper to fold the dough over itself by lifting and folding the edge of the dough toward the middle. Turn bowl and repeat the motion another 5 times (which should also help combine in the rosemary and olives). Re-cover with the plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes. Repeat the folding process one more time, and re-cover with the plastic wrap.

Then, refrigerate for at least 18 hours and up to 3 days.

To bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the top of the dough lightly with flour, and then transfer to a work surface, and shape holding it with well-floured hands, tucking the dough underneath itself and rotating until it forms a tight ball.

Add about 2 T. (27 g.) olive oil into a 9- to 10-inch cast iron skillet and spread the oil over the entire inner surface using your hands. Transfer the dough to the pan, turn to coat it in the oil, and then position seam-side down. Spread gently with your hands to mostly fill the pan. Cover tightly and let rise at room temperature until dough is soft and puffy, about 1 ½ hours to 2 hours.

Heat oven to 500 degrees and position the rack in the lower third of the oven, when the dough is nearly ready.

Use your fingertips to gently press and stretch the dough to evenly fill all corners of the pan, lifting up the edges of the dough to let air bubbles underneath escape, and then create small dimples in the top of the dough. Drizzle the remaining 1 ½ T. (20 g.) olive oil over the top of the dough, and then sprinkle with coarse sea salt and the leaves from the remaining sprig of rosemary.

Transfer skillet to oven and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the skillet about halfway through the baking. (It seems hot, and I deviated from the directions here since I didn’t have a baking stone, but it works with some light charring on top but perfectly golden on the bottom; however, keep a closer eye on times given the high heat.) Remove from heat and let the focaccia cool in the skillet for 5 minutes, and then use a spatula to carefully remove the focaccia from the still-hot skillet and transfer the bread to a wire rack. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving, and enjoy!