Pesto-Olive Foccacia Bread Recipe

Pesto-olive foccacia bread recipe

During our honeymoon last year in Europe, Mark and I spent a little over a week in Italy. During our time there, we ate foccacia just about everyday. More specifically, pesto foccacia. Not just any pesto foccacia, but the kind of foccacia where foccacia bread was originated, in the Liguria region of Italy. While in Liguria, we stayed in one of the five villages of Cinque Terre, the beautiful Monterosso.  Monterosso is nestled along the mountainside with the blue Mediterranean ocean bordering each little village. Monterosso was the first village we arrived in among the four other vibrantly colored villages of Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. Foccacia bakeries are everywhere in this Mediterranean haven. I just had to try them all.  My other favorite focaccia was the Margherite foccacia bread, with basil, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella.

Monterosso

Here is a picture from our honeymoon in Monterosso, Italy.  This picture was taken at night from our balcony, and if you look into the distance, the small flecks of light are the neighboring villages nestled into the mountainside cliffs. If you ever get a chance to visit Italy, I highly recommend Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre

This picture was taken during our hike to one of the four other villages of Cinque Terre. The great thing about vacationing here is you can eat whatever you want, because you’ll end up burning it off with their miles and miles of hiking trails to get to the neighboring villages. It was one of the most gorgeous hikes I have ever been on: green mountaintops full of tomato vines and vineyards, beautiful wild flowers, and all of this overlooking the deep crystal blue Mediterranean ocean.

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cup wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup water
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon organic cane sugar
• 1 tablespoon active yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 cup pesto
• 1/2 cup seeded Kalamata olives

Directions

1. Mix all dry ingredients together, then pour in water and olive oil
2. Mix until combined
3. Place dough onto a floured surface and begin kneading until elastic consistency
4. Place dough into a large olive oil greased bowl and flip dough once to coat both sides with oil
5. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for 20-25 minutes
6. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
7. Place dough in a 8X8 baking pan and flatten out evenly, should be 1 inch thick all around
8. Poke hole with finger or end of a wooden spoon all over dough
9. Spread pesto evenly over dough, and put Kalamata olives in existing holes
10. Drizzle with olive oil
11. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown
12. Serve warm (delicious dipped in a marinara sauce)
13. Serves 6-10 people, depending on how big you slice the bread