Olive-Red Pepper Focaccia

I'm leaving for my flight to Taiwan in 11 hours!! I'm super excited for my trip, and I hope to buy lots of things and meet many people there. I've been accepted to a cultural learning program (we're learning about the Hakka culture). I don't have much to say other than I hope I get to buy everything on my shopping list!

Below is a recipe for Olive-Red Pepper Focaccia; I'm not Italian (not even close!) but it tasted pretty darn good. The recipe is from one of my cookbooks (Land O'Lakes Baking) but I changed it up a bit.

According to Wikipedia (yay) Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread, typically seasoned with herbs and olive oil, and topped with whatever the heck you feel like topping it with. In this case, I had olives and red-pepper on hand, so I just chopped some up and threw it onto the Focaccia. Focaccia can be used as a base for a pizza, sandwich bread, or a side dish. Good luck with baking, I won't be back for a month! :]

Olive-Red Pepper Focaccia

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 ¼ cups bread flour
  
• 2 ½ tsp active dry yeast
  
• 1 cup water
  
• 3 tbs butter (reserve ½ tbs)
  
• 2 tsp minced garlic
  
• ¼ of a red bell pepper
  
• 7-8 small canned olives
  
• 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese

1. Combine the yeast, sugar, and water in a bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes.
   
2. Sift the all-purpose and bread flour into another bowl.
   
3. Make a well in the flour, and pour the yeast-water mixture into the middle. Stir with a wooden spoon.
   
4. Heat 2 ½ tbs of butter and the garlic in the microwave for 30 seconds, then knead into the dough.
   
5. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Let rise for 50-60 minutes.
   
6. Punch the dough down, and then knead for 2-3 minutes. Roll out into a circle about 1-inch think.
   
7. Place this dough on a greased pizza pan or jelly roll pan. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rise for 30-40 minutes.
   
8. Slice the red bell pepper into thin strips and the small olives into little circles of desired thickness.
   
9. Poke holes halfway into the dough every two inches. Stuff a little bit of cheese into each indentation.
   
10. Brush the dough with the reserved ½ tbs of melted butter.
11. Scatter the red pepper and olives throughout the dough. Then top it with the remaining cheese.
    
12. Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Bake for 20-25 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. (Check after 20 minutes to see if the crust is browned.)

Curry Bread/ Karepan

I think the Japanese are brilliant. They make the cutest, smallest, most high-tech things! Except they're insanely expensive. And the cost of living in Japan is insanely high. Solution: live in Taiwan and fly to Japan every month for a weekend vacation. Out of all the foods the Japanese have invented, curry bread is one of my favorites. Of course, I also like Red Bean buns, chocolate coronets, and MELON PAN… I'll just cut it short and say I like Japanese stuff in general. Did I mention I like curry?

Hmmm. Curry. Hmmm. Bread. What better way to consume my two favorite foods than by combining them together? Don't deny it! Food combining is awesome. Look at all those great combinations out there… Chocolate and Strawberries, Strawberries and Ice Cream, Ice Cream and Fries… Yes. Ice cream and fries. Never tried it? Better start soon. You're missing out. The warm crunch of the French fry surrounded by cold, creamy, luscious ice cream. Yum. Seriously, try it.

And while we're on the topic of trying, this is my first time making curry bread. It turned out okay. Of course, I've never actually had authentic Japanese curry bread, but… the one I made today was good enough for me! I tried both ways- fried and baked. I'll admit it. I've never fried anything before. Hot oil scares me. It's all hot… and popping… and hot… yeah. But for the sake of the Karepan, I conquered my frying-phobia and viola! By the way, I personally believe that frying yields a more delicious karepan. The baked ones aren't so good… See results below.

A few notes about this. I got this from Kevin's Closet Cooking (uber-awesome food blog), but the dough was really sticky, and I had to add probably another half cup of flour in order to barely manage it. Most likely my fault of some sort, so please don't take offense. Therefore, I have changed the ingredients (less water) somewhat according to my experiences.

Karepan (Curry Bread)

• 2 tsp yeast
  
• 1 cup (and 2 tbs)warm water
• 3 cups flour
  
• 2 tbs sugar
  
• 1 tsp salt (I use salted butter, so I didn't add any salt)
• 3 tbs butter, melted
  
• 1 cup curry
• 1 egg
  
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
  

  
  

1. Combine yeast, warm water, and sugar in a bowl for 10 minutes (proofing).
   
2. Sift the flour into a separate bowl. Make a well and pour in the water mixture. Stir vigorously until a raggy dough forms.
3. Pour the melted butter onto the dough, and knead until fully incorporated (about 3-4 minutes).
   
4. Dump the dough onto a lightly-floured counter, and turn the bowl over to cover the dough. Let it rest like this for 20 minutes to autolyse.
   
5. When the autolyse is finished, flatten the dough slightly with your fingers and at this point, sprinkle the salt onto the dough and knead until incorporated (3-4 minutes).
   
6. Place the dough into a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Let rise for about 60-90 minutes.
   
7. Knead dough for two minutes, then place back into bowl and rise for another 60-90 minutes.
   
8. Meanwhile, take your curry (thickened by cooking it over a low fire until it loses water content) and cut larger chunks of vegetables into fourths and mashing them.
9. After the second rise, take the dough out and knead for 3-4 minutes. Cut the dough into 7-8 pieces (depending on how thick you want your karepan to be. I did 7).
   
10. Take the egg and milk, and beat it until mixed.
11. Take a piece of dough and roll it out into a 5-inch circle. Place a spoonful of curry onto the middle of the circle. Brush the edge of half the circle with the egg mixture and then fold it over to make a dumpling.
    
12. Seal the dumpling shut, then push the seal to one side. Brush the entire dumpling with egg wash (or just one side of it, if you're too lazy), and roll in a plateful of panko bread crumbs. Place onto individual sheets of waxed paper.
    
13. When done, let them rise for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil for frying or preheat the oven to 350˚F (if using oven, skip the panko bread crumbs).
14. If frying, slide the karepan dumplings, wax paper and all, into the hot oil. Fry for about 1 minute on each side, or until the panko bread crumbs are browned. Drain on paper towels.
    
15. If baking, place the karepan dumplings onto a baking pan and bake for 23-25 minutes.
    
16. EAT!
    
    
    

Thin Crust Pizza

Let's start with this. How about let's begin with some of my baking stuff. I mean sure, I upload pictures onto Facebook, but I never actually post the recipes anywhere I remember... I write them on post-it notes or on the back of scratch paper, make the recipe, and then lose it somewhere... usually in the trash can.

So, let's use this blog as a chronicle of all the things I've baked... ^-^ no one has to read this, okay? Sort of like... my own personal recipebook. Besides, saving these as word documents on my computer would be kind of lame, wouldn't they?

Pizza. After all, this is what new bakers should start with, right? I love reading foodie blogs... their stories are so interesting, the pictures and their exquisite details, the trials and triumphs are so wonderful. Therefore, this recipe comes from Convivial ! (I'm so jealous of the kitchenaid mixer ;_;)

Er.. Wait, that didn't mean I wanted to BE a kitchenaid mixer. Just that I wanted one. Yeah. >_<

Here's the recipe:

Thin Crust Pizza

• 3/4 cups warm water
• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1/2 tbs of honey
• 1 tbs of salt
• 2 dashes of oil (4 tbsp?)

1. Proof yeast with warm water and the 1 tsp sugar.
2. Sift the flour into a large bowl, make a well, and pour the yeast mixture in.
3. Mix together with a wooden spoon, knead into a ball, and leave on counter, covered with the bowl, for 20 minutes.
4. Squeeze honey onto the dough, lightly sprinkle it with salt, and knead until fully incorporated.
5. Add a dash of oil onto the dough, and knead until fully incorporated.
6. Dash some oil into a bowl, and cover the dough ball with the oil in the dough, then cover with a damp tea towel, and let rise for 40 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
8. Using a spatula, dump the dough out onto a lightly floured counter, and knead once or twice.
9. Roll out the dough into a circle, place onto pizza pan (and stretch the dough to fit pan as needed).
10. Spread sauce and desired toppings on. Bake for 10-12 minutes on the middle rack of the oven.