Rosemary Focaccia

I've always wanted to try my hand at making homemade bread. I've made other doughy recipes before like cinnamon rolls, and Parker House rolls before with my dad, and figured there was no better time than when I had so much time at home with Sanjeev, to try baking some bread. I hadn't hopped on the bread-baking wagon as quickly as everyone else did during the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. Well, I made banana bread (but I've been baking that for years), but not sourdough or any of the other trendy breads everyone else was trying out.

I loved making this focaccia bread. Although the bread did turn out a little dry and did not have as much of that classic focaccia chew as I would have liked, I was proud, well we were pretty proud. Sanjeev and I tested our bread-making skills one Sunday afternoon, something we often don't get to do during regular work ours (he's working from home now). We've gotten a lot of extra time to cook and bake together, something I'm especially thankful for as one of my favorite parts of cooking is sharing it with him.

We took turns completing different steps of the recipe. He kneaded the dough, I punched it down after the first rise, he made the classic focaccia dimples with his fingers while I sprinkled a whole lot of chopped rosemary and sea salt on top of the bread - finishing with a drizzle of olive oil before baking.

He hadn't made any type of homemade bread before, and the look on his face after it turned out as good as it did, made the whole process even more worth it for me.

We'll definitely be baking more (not just bread) while we have all this time at home together.