Wholewheat focaccia bread

I always thought making your bread would be very cumbersome and given the fact that we can buy them so easily from any store and at a very less price no body gives it a though that we can actually try baking one at home.

I admit it took a couple of tries to get desired texture and softness but it only gets better with every try and then you can plan it out in a way where you really won't have to put a lot of effort and time in baking one. I am still playing around with ingredients and am amused with end results of each effort!

Believe me it might be a little too overwhelming to start with but once you start baking your own bread you can try a lot of varieties  and will now exactly what is going in your bread.

I do not add any preservatives in bread so it is good for use upto 2 days(if only it lasts that long).
I have shared other bread loaf recipes earlier, but this time I tried focaccia bread as I got hold of some sun dried tomatoes from market and was desperate to try somethings using those!

It came out really good in taste and texture and although I used only whole wheat flour did'nt miss the white flour at all! Being new to using sun dried tomatoes, I ended up burning them a bit but well it tasted awesome anyways.

So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups whole wheat flour 

1 tablespoon active dry yeast 

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

4 tablespoon olive oil

Handful sun dried tomato 

Black olives 

Fresh basil leaves-5 to 6

Recipe:
Heat the water to lukewarm - around 30-40  C. It should not be too hot or it will kill the yeast.
Add sugar and yeast and keep it at a warm place for 5-10 minutes till it become frothy at top.
Meanwhile take the flour, salt and add 1 table spoon of olive oil to it . Mix the yeast mixture gradually using a fork, bringing everything together in a dough. Using hands make the dough, not be too harsh while making the dough and knead it into a smooth texture for around 5 minutes. Grease a bowl with oil and put the dough in it, cover it with oil so that it does get dried up. Cover with a cloth and keep it to rest for an hour at a warm place or until it rises to double the volume .
In the meantime, warm the 2 table spoon olive oil and add the chopped basil ,olives and sun dried tomatoes in it. Let it soak for around 30 minutes or until we prepare for rest of the recipe .
Once dough has risen, punch it back and knead for 5 minutes. Grease a baking tray and roll the dough with 1/2 inch thickness. Spread the tomato-olive-basil on top of it and brush with the remaining oil.
Let it rise for another 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 180C and bake for 25-30 minutes.
Enjoy warm as it is or with any dips.

You can either bake for 20 minutes if you do not want the tomato to brown a lot or add them halfway through baking.
 I had mine with hummus!