Last week the mini-chefs got their hands on some dough. Some pizza dough.
“It’s soft!”
“It’s squishy!”
“It feels goooooood.”
It really does-so much so that some of us even had a bit of a hard time giving up the dough when it was time to place it on the baking sheet and sprinkle it with things. After a little pep talk from the mamas, they did relinquish the dough, sprinkle it with the rosemary and the parmesan… only to pick it back up again and start working it in their hands again.
If there is one thing that is completely understandable, it is this. To submerge your hands in that soft, squishy, good dough? Heaven. So, my advice when you are making this with your Yummy? Set aside a special lump of dough just to love after the hard work is done.
Rosemary Parmesan Foccacia
*1 recipe of Ari’s Artisanal Pizza Dough
*2-4 T. chopped fresh rosemary, or to taste
*a couple of handfuls (1/4 c. ) of freshly grated parmesan cheese
*a small sprinkle of salt, optional
*a slosh or two of olive oil
*cornmeal and extra flour for shaping the foccacia
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.
With your Yummy: Prepare two rimmed baking sheets by oiling them (Canola oil is nice here) and sprinkling them with a bit of cornmeal.
Sprinkle your counter or board with a little flour. Make sure that you and your mini-chef have also given your hands a good flour coating, too. Working with lumps of dough about the size of a Big Person’s palm, or about double the size of a mini-chef’s palm, first sculpt the dough into smooth balls. Then, stretch the dough into an oval or rectangular shape and keep stretching until you can stretch no more without tearing it.
Lay each down onto the prepared baking sheet, keeping the foccacia at least an inch apart. Sprinkle the tops with olive oil and massage the oil all over the tops of the foccacia. Then sprinkle each with a bit of rosemary and a bit of the parmesan cheese. Follow that with a tiny pinch of salt.
Big Person: Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool, dunk in olive oil, or use a serrated knife to cut carefully through the middle and make some delicious Italian sandwiches.
