Easy Rosemary Focaccia Loaf for Love and Protection ✨
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, now is as good a time as any to enchant (metaphorically or literally, if you get their consent of course) your lover with this glorious loaf of focaccia. It is outrageously lovely; crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside, and brimming with the aroma and magic of rosemary. Magic or no, this loaf is so good it could win anyone’s favor ✨
Rosemary holds powers of love and protection, and has a history as an aphrodisiac. Rosemary is also traditionally burned to purify a space, so you can also enjoy the benefits of the aroma filling and purifying your home as this loaf bakes. In a more tangible sense, it has been shown to improve working memory and cognition, so it might behoove you to enjoy a bit more rosemary in your cooking if you need a boost.
* 1 Package of Active Dry Yeast (.25 oz, or 7 grams)
* 1 Cup or 237 grams of warm water (105 degree F, or thereabouts)
* 6 tablespoons or 81 grams of extra virgin olive oil, divided
* 3/4 teaspoon of salt (4 grams)
* 1/4 cup or 42 grams of semolina flour (you could probably get away with using bread flour if you don’t have semolina but I haven’t tried it myself)
* 2 teaspoons of fresh or dried chopped rosemary
* 2 1/2 cups or 300 grams of bread flour
* 3 more tablespoons or 40 grams of olive oil
* 2 more teaspoons of fresh or dried rosemary
* 2 big pinches of flaky sea salt
Make some magic✨ Light a white candle in your kitchen and set your intention.
Enchant your rosemary with your intention. If you plan to make this as an aphrodisiac, imagine your person of choice being utterly smitten with you! Hold the rosemary in the palm of your hand, and focus and concentrate your intention as an orb of white light around the rosemary. If you have a mantra, recite it to yourself out loud or in your head.
Back to the practical! Whisk the yeast with the warm water. Then, add 2 tablespoons of oil, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoons of rosemary, and semolina flour and whisk to combine.
Add all the bread flour and stir it in with a spoon, to the extent possible.
Dump out the dough onto a floured surface and knead for three minutes, until the dough is smooth, dusting with flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to your surface.
Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil right onto the dough ball and knead it into the dough. Honestly, this is going to seem like a mess at first, but after a minute, it will start to look right again. Then, pour 2 more tablespoons of olive oil on the dough and knead it in again. Knead the dough until it becomes extremely homogeneous and somewhat sticky.
Oil the dough ball and put it in a bowl, and cover that bowl with foil or a lid. At this point, you can either proof it at room temperature for an hour or two until it doubles in size, or you can put it in the fridge overnight. I prefer to fridge it overnight, because I think it makes the flavor better, but it’s up to you!
Grease a baking sheet or an 11 x 7 baking dish. Press and spread the dough out until it’s about a half inch high. If working with a baking dish, push and pull the dough to fill the space. Then rest for fifteen minutes to let the gluten relax.
Oil your fingers and dimple the dough, pushing all the way down (but making sure not to break through the dough.) Then, pour on 2 ish tablespoons of oil, distributing it across the whole surface of the dough. Then sprinkle with your remaining enchanted rosemary on top, along with your flaky sea salt. I use maldon salt, but any salt would probably do. Just use lots! This bread really wants to be quite salted. Rest the dough at room temp for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
Preheat your oven to 475ºF. When the oven comes up to temperature, put in your loaf, and bake it for 15 minutes.
Pull the loaf out of the oven and immediately transfer to a cooling rack so that the bottom doesn’t get soggy.
Slice into big hunks and devour gleefully, sharing with the object of your desire (with informed consent for any spells you have put on the loaf.) Enjoy with a mild jam, like fig or pear, or by itself.
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