How I love focaccia bread. I’ve been making this bread for a long time with different recipes and I think I might have found the best one. As I’m writing my cute little dough is rising and the rosemary is just lovely. It takes a few hours to make since I let the dough rise twice for a total of 2hr15min. It’s a wonderful bread to have on hand to use as a snack while preparing dinner or as part of a lunch. I know a lot of people don’t have time to make these breads often but you can just make the dough and cut it in half (which is what I do). During the week you can just pop it out and put it on a baking sheet and let it rise for 45 min. add some toppings and put it in the oven. Anyway, I was listening to the debates while making my bread and thought it was an interesting debate.
Personally, I think Palin did well in comparison to some of the interview clips that I have seen. She did seem much more articulate and I thought some of her tactics really worked for her. She stated at one point that she was so obviously an outsider to the washington political scene and that she wants to get things done instead of constantly changing her position which she accused Biden of doing throughout the debate. I must admit that I liked that tactic and it really worked to reinforce her image as a go-getter, mom, middle-class kind of person. Now, I’m not saying I”m supporting McCain/Palin but just simply pointing out what I thought were her stronger points. But I must say I was hoping she’d be a bit more knowledgeable about specific positions that she would take. I felt like she tended to shift to reciting themes when she wasn’t quite sure how to answer…themes of ‘ensuring freedom’, ‘helping the american people first’.
Biden knew his stuff and I pretty much expected that. But to be honest I didn’t feel swayed to support Obama/Biden more. I grew up always being very conscious of the civil war in El Sal. and the struggles that my mother’s family had to deal with. Obama/Biden talk about change and while they discuss the war I don’t feel confident in their proposals. Everyone seems to forget that so many wars throughout history have been created and/or backed by the U.S. Look at Central Am., the Phillipines, Iraq, etc. I just don’t think it’s as simple as sitting down with some of these countries will do the trick. Sometimes I think Washington politicians ignore the magnitude of our past legacies. And while I don’t think it’s productive to sit in the past, I do think we should take these things into account when other countries are royally pissed at us and don’t want to deal with us. Because Obama might be ‘different’ but he’s still representing our legacy and he is still working within the old framework of our government.
The debates were interesting and both of them had strong points. Although I won’t be voting for the Republican candidate, I can’t say I’ll be voting for Obama either. Nathan and I have been joking about voting for Clinton anyway but we’ll see. Anyway I should go and pop my focaccia in the oven.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I just thought I’d share the recipe really quick in case anyone wants to make this bread. It’s originally from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant by The Moosewood Collective 
which my mother bought while she was in NY. I changed the whole wheat flour to All-purpose because I didn’t like the wheaty taste in the focaccia.
2 Tbs. chopped rosemary 1 Tbs. olive oil, plus more for the topping
1 package of dry yeast 1.25 cups of all-purpose flour
1tsp sugar 1-1.5 white bread flour
1 tsp. salt 1 cup boiling water salt and rosemary leaves for the topping
- Place the chopped rosemary in a medium bowl and pour in the boiling water. Let it cool so that it doesn’t burn you since the yeast likes warm water.
- Add the yeast and sugar and let stand for a few minutes until it’s foamy/bubbly.
- Stir in the all-purpose flour and salt. Be sure to add the salt afterwards or in the middle because I read that salt kills yeast.
- Add in small amounts of the bread flour until the dough becomes consistent.
- Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead, adding more bread flour as needed. Knead for approx. 10 min
- Oil a bowl and turn the dough so that all the sides are covered with oil. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place (such as on top of the stove) for 1.5 hrs.
- Poke the dough and knead for a few minutes. Oil a baking sheet and stretch the dough onto the sheet. Let it rise for 45 min.
- Preheat oven to 375. Poke shallow holes into the dough. Drizzle with olive oil and extra rosemary and salt. Let bake for 25 min.
