Basil and cherry tomato focaccia

Yesterday was Indian Independence day. My son had to go to school for the flag hoisting, and then we watched the movie Gandhi that was showing on TV here.
That movie manages to inspire me, irrespective of the number of times I've watched it. At some points in life, Gandhi-ism, as a concept may seem a little irrelevant, with all the greed, ego clashes and violence that goes on all around the world. A person who worked selflessly for his nation is something we find hard to understand in today's generation, where each one believes that the world revolves around us.

My 6-year old had a lot of questions for me while watching the movie and I hope he manages to imbibe something from Gandhi's life and learn some of the selflessness and dedication of the many freedom fighters who fought for the India's independence.

Since its a National holiday, TH was also at home. I wanted to bake something and decided on this lovely focaccia I had seen on SJ's facebook page. She led me to this link on Sara's page. Thank you SJ and Sara, this turned out so good !



I followed the recipe for the dough from Sara's page but changed the toppings a bit. I have this eternal problem of the crust never really browning enough. I am guessing its got something to do with the fact that I use the convection mode of my microwave to bake. Maybe an OTG will solve the problem. I've been postponing buying one only because I want to be really sure I will use it that much. But considering I bake at least once a week, I think I should go ahead.



I have narrowed down on the 40L OTG from Morphy Richards. I have read up many discussions on various fb groups and this seems like a good option. If you do own this one, do let me know how you like it or if you own any other brand that you think is good, please drop in your suggestions here. I'd love to have some options.



My son has never been fussy about food and now he has started enjoying watching food shows on TV. Masterchef Australia is one of his favourites. When I make something that looks a little fancy, he tells me 'Mamma, this is a Masterchef dish !' His friends' moms are always happy to have him over since he is full of praise for their food !
This one according to my little critic was a 'Masterchef dish'



This goes to Susan's Yeastspotting

I don't know how, but I seem to to have lost all the food pictures in the first 50 odd posts - all these were directly uploaded into blogger. Its a good chance to make these again and put up the pics, but if you know how I could possibly recover them, do let me know. I had the pics on a older laptop that crashed, so no saved copies either.

I made chow chow over the weekend and updated the post with that pic. Take a peek here

Basil and cherry tomato focaccia
Recipe source - Bake tales

What you need -

1 cup APF / maida
1 tsp instant yeast (I used gloripan)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup lukewarm water

Topping
1 sliced onion
a few basil leaves
1/4 cup mozzarella
10-15 cherry tomatoes, quartered
sea salt
crushed pepper
2-3 tbsp olive oil

What you do with it -

In a large bowl, add the flour and mix in the salt and sugar
Make a well, pour in lukewarm water, olive oil and sprinkle yeast over the top
Bring it all together to form a ball of dough. It will be a little sticky, but that's fine
Knead using the base of your palm. Stretch the dough, roll it back, do a quarter turn and stretch it out again. As you work the dough, it will tighten up and become soft and springy
Knead for about 10 mins and then place in a greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and leave in a warm place till it doubles in size. It should take about an hour. I left mine for close to two hours, because it was pretty cloudy here.
Punch down the dough to expel all the air bubbles. Place it on a dusted worktop and cover with the bowl for about 10 minutes.
Press the dough down and roll it using a rolling pin, into the shape of the pan you are using. I made a 9" x 9" square
Grease the pan, place the dough into it and stretch to fill up the pan around the corners. Cover and allow to rise for 10-15 mins and then dimple with dough with your fingertips
Place the sliced onions and the cherry tomatoes on the dough. Tear the basil leaves and sprinkle over this. Crush the sea salt and sprinkle over the dough, along with the ground pepper
Make pieces of the mozzarella and scatter over the toppings. Drizzle the olive oil over it
Pre-heat the oven to 200 C and then bake for 20-22 mins, till its done
Allow to cool for a few mins. Slice and serve hot.