Del.icio.us Fo.cacc.ia

Technological sophomore that I am, Del.icio.us remains a mystery to me even after I checked it out. Yahoo bought Del.icio.us today. I gather they are some sort of Web 2.0 search engine. But is it a search engine, or a "social bookmarking service"? (Which is what, pray tell?) Content drives web traffic, so my ignorance puts me in a bind. Still . . . while I may not know much about Del.icio.us, I do know plenty about Del.icio.us food. Del.icio.us Fo.cacc.ia, to be exact.

Dead Easy, Delicious Focaccia

You have no excuse not to make this for dinner tomorrow

While the ingredients are simple enough, there are a few toys which make this recipe sing: a good mixer, a rubber spatula for scraping down the sides of the mixer, an open-ended cookie sheet, a pizza stone, and parchment paper. Of these, the last three are indispensable. 2 cups all purpose flour 1 cup room temperature water 1/2 to 1 packet of yeast 1 tsp salt 1 tablespoon olive oil More olive oil to brush the focaccia A variety of goodies to sprinkle on your focaccia (details below) Sprinkle the yeast on the water; stir to dissolve. Combine flour, salt, and olive oil. With the mixer on the lowest speed, add water/yeast mixture in a stream. Use the spatula to scrape down the sides. Keep stirring until the dry and wet ingredients are combined, and the gluten has begun to develop (about five minutes max). Coat a bowl or 1 Quart measuring cup with olive oil. Turn the dough out into the cup and cover with plastic wrap. At room temperature, the dough will take 1 to 2 hours to rise*. At least 30 minutes prior to the end of this rise, turn your oven on as hot as it will go (450 to 500). You'll have a VERY wet dough, so don't even think of kneading this baby. Using the spatula, scoop the dough out onto a big square of parchment paper (about 14 inches by 14 inches). The parchment paper needs to be on the open-ended cookie sheet (or use a pizza peel, if you're a real pro). Using your fingers, spread the dough out as thinly as you can. It doesn't need to look pretty -- focaccia is supposed to be rustic, okay? I shoot for 13 inches by 13 inches. Paint the top with olive oil. Now it's time to add goodies. I like to top my focaccia with freshly ground black pepper, coarse salt (the stuff you would use on a pretzel or salt bagel), and onion. To keep the onion from burning, I chop it finely and mix it with some olive oil. Fresh herbs are great on focaccia. Rosemary, thyme, garlic are all great additions. Once again, mix these additions with a bit of olive oil to discourage burning. Using your cookie sheet (or pizza peel), slide the focaccia onto the hot stone. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, but keep a close eye on it. It should turn a nice golden brown. If you cut the cooking time short by about 5 minutes, you can use this as a killer base for a pizza. Easy! D. *Depends on how much yeast you use, how warm your kitchen is, how active your yeast is, etc. The original recipe called for only 1 teaspoon of yeast, but that sometimes ended in disaster (cold day or old yeast = flabby dough). That's why I increased the yeast to a full packet. If your dough goes crazy and is ready before you are, no problem. Punch it down with an oiled spoon and let it rise again.