Focaccia

I don't think I've ever thought about Thanksgiving as much as I've thought about it this year. Usually, I just have to show up and eat. Very little preparation involved other than making sure not to eat a large breakfast. Well, this year we're hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner. It should be small and fairly low key, Veronica's parents, brother, godfather and us. Just 6 at the table. I'm sure it will be plenty of fuel for blog posts.

I didn't think I was going ot post about this recipe when I started it. It was really just preparation for Italian sausage and bread stuffing for the big day. Atypically for me when it comes to a recipe from epicurious.com, I went full steam ahead without reading the reviews. Well, I got part way through and started to freak out. I had mixed up the dough, gone out for some quick errands and shopping and found the dough not quite as risen as I hoped or expected. It went ahead with the recipe and read the comments after setting it back in the slightly warmed oven for the second rise. Some of the reviewers said that theirs turned out "dry" and "crumby" and many of the suggestions recommended cutting back on the flour... too late.

I went the full duration on the first rise and extended the second rise a bit. After dimpling the dough and brushing on the oil and salting it, I could see that maybe it might not be light and fluffy if baked immediately. I had essentially just punched down the dough, so it made sense to give it a few more moments to rise. I left it go for about another 30 minutes to rise before heating the oven. I think it worked. It tastes great and is pretty light. I also took the recommendation to start it in a 500 degree oven for the first 5 minutes and then cut it back, so maybe that helped.

Tonight, I chopped it up and toasted it in the oven, cooled it and put it in a plastic bag until Thursday. I ended up only needing about half of it for the stuffing recipe, so I cut up the remainder and threw it into the freezer. I'll pull it back out on Wednesday and have a second option to my homemade bread rolls. Focaccia, check.

Tomorrow is pie crust, chocolate cake and sweet potato pie filling. Wednesday night I'll bake the pies (the second is pecan) and frost the cake (with penuche icing). (Veronica takes a quick trip to Chicago tomorrow, returning on Wednesday just before midnight). Everything else will happen on Thursday. We're shooting for a 4pm dinner, which should give us enought time to not feel too pressured.

Hmmm... Veronica is just finishing up the cranberry sauce. Our next post?