Roasted Garlic, Oregano Flower, and Sea Salt Focaccia Recipe
Back in April as part of the Great British Bake Off Bakealong I made a focaccia recipe. The one I posted made enough for three breads; at the time I baked two Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia breads and put the remaining dough in the freezer for another time. I figured I’d just make another of the same flavor when I was ready but then I saw a very intriguing recipe on Little House Big Alaska for Squash Blossom Focaccia Bread. In addition to sounding delicious, it looks absolutely beautiful.
It made me want pretty focaccia bread. I only had one problem – no squash blossoms. Our zucchini aren’t anywhere near big enough yet. In fact our whole garden is behind due to the late spring. So I looked around to see what I did have. There is always garlic around here as the hubby grows a ton of it every year. But garlic isn’t pretty. Then I remembered the oregano! He planted a little bit several years ago and now it has just taken over where it was planted.
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It is a lovely plant and the flowers are edible. I know had my pretty. Now, don’t worry if you don’t have access to oregano flowers. You can still make this bread with fresh oregano. It will still taste delicious and yes, it will still be pretty.
Roasted Garlic, Oregano Flower, and Sea Salt Focaccia Bread
- 3 small or 2 medium potatoes
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 heaping TBSP active dry yeast ( 1 1/2 pkgs)
- 1 1/2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 5 1/2 to 7 1/2 cups bread flour
- 1 1/2 TBS salt
- coarse sea salt
- olive oil for drizzling – optional
For Roasted Garlic, Oregano Flower and Sea Salt Focaccia
- one head of garlic
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 3 stems of oregano with flowers per bread or 2 TBS fresh oregano leaves
- peel and quarter the potatoes. Place in a small pot and cover with at least 3 cups of water. Cook until the potatoes are still fork tender. You don’t want them mushy.
- reserve 2 cups of the potato water, drain the potatoes and set aside to cool
- Rice the potatoes in a mill or ricer
- In the bowl of a stand mixer add the 1 cup of warm water. Sprinkle the yeast and let sit for a couple of minutes to soften. Attach the paddle
- Add the eggs, the all purpose flour, 5 1/2 cups of bread flour, the salt, the potatoes and the potato water. It will be a wet sloppy mess.
- Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough comes together. It will be a soft dough.
- Remove the paddle and insert the dough hook. Knead on the first speed for 10 minutes.
- Oil a large bowl and put the dough in the bowl and turn over. Cover and let rise for until doubled in size for 30 – 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°
- While the dough rises, make the roasted garlic. Cut the top off of the head of garlic. Place the head on a piece of foil and drizzle with the olive oil. Wrap the garlic head in the foil and place on a small baking sheet or dish. Bake in the preheated oven until soft about 20 – 30 minutes depending on the size of your garlic head.
- Grease as many baking sheets as you will be using – the recipe makes three. The dough freezes beautifully.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and punch down. Let rest for 15 minutes. Cut into three even pieces. If you are freezing dough do it at this time. Just wrap the dough in parchment and place in a zip bag and freeze.
- Stretch and press the dough to fit the baking sheet (a half sheet pan).
- Cover and let rise until puffed up, about 30 minutes.
- Raise the heat in the oven to 425°
- Using your fingers, poke the top of the dough to dimple
- Evenly sprinkle the top of the dough with oregano flowers, the fresh oregano and bits and pieces of the roasted garlic. (Just break the flowers off of the top and then pull apart into tiny pieces and sprinkle over the top. The same thing with the oregano leaves on the stems. If just using fresh oregano rip or chop them into small pieces. Reserve about a third of the flowers/leaves to sprinkle after baking)
- Sprinkle with coarse sea salt as desired.
- If desired, drizzle a little olive oil over the top of the bread. Do not use too much.
- Bake in the preheated oven for until the bread has browned top and bottom. 35 – 40 minutes.
- If you are baking more than one focaccia at a time, rotate the breads halfway through baking.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool completely
How Was the Roasted Garlic, Oregano Flower and Sea Salt Focaccia Recipe?
It was yummy. The roasted garlic was sweet, the oregano flowers were mild and the fresh oregano was delightful. Having both cooked and raw flowers and oregano added a lot of depth of flavor. The only thing I would change would be to add more sea salt. How much salt to add to something like this is such a personal decision I will leave it up to you to decide how much to add.
I served it with a bowl of my home canned tomato soup and it made for a delightful and easy dinner. I will definitely make this again before the oregano dies off.
